India API Banking Market Assessment, By Component, By Deployment Mode, By Application, By End-user, By Region, Opportunities and Forecast, FY2019-FY2033F

India API Banking market is projected to witness a CAGR of 13.41% during the forecast period, FY2026-FY2033, growing from USD 2.32 billion in FY2025 to USD 6.35 billion in FY2033. The development in India's API banking market is being driven by the post-COVID-19 digitization dash, early-stage merchant digitization, rapid fintech innovation, and the evolution of the traditional financial services delivery and consumption model. The API banking ecosystem in India is emerging as a global standard for open banking infrastructure, facilitated by interoperability, real-time data sharing, and scalable technology frameworks that support both traditional banks and challenger brands.

India's API banking market is undergoing rapid transformation, with banks increasingly collaborating with and innovating alongside external partners to develop open banking platforms. A collaborative partner in this area is the State Bank of India (SBI), which worked with APIX to facilitate the SBI InnoHub in November 2024, a fintech accelerator that enables co-creation with startups, developers, and tech providers. This initiative is a crucial step toward advancing an innovation-led API banking ecosystem that enables traditional banks to quickly test and launch new digital services with lower development costs.

Partnerships such as this signify an important shift in the banking market toward an open API model that allows for flexible service delivery for retail, SME, and corporate banking services. With increasing competition from financial technology companies (fintech), banks are eager to modernize their back-end infrastructure, promote interoperability, foster ecosystem collaborations, and adopt a digital-first approach to engaging with all customers. API banking is no longer an option; it is the future of banking in India.

Regulatory Push is Propelling the API Banking Market Growth

The government's proactive digital policy served as a clear driver of growth, as India introduced interoperability for its digital payment systems across internet banking in March 2024. This is part of their broader range of financial inclusion, offering a seamless customer experience. This means there will be considerably less friction for customers when transacting across banks and platforms, in areas such as bill payments, fund transfers, and API-based automation.

This policy encourages banks and fintech to rethink their API stack architecture, not just by applying technical changes but by creating opportunities for scale. By doing so, they can enable secure and real-time interoperable transactions. These changes will also allow the integration of other critical APIs, such as KYC, consent-based data sharing, and identity verification, further positioning India as a leader in open banking adoption.

Platform Expansion by Digital-first Players

The API banking ecosystem in India is transforming as enterprise software companies venture into the fintech space.

For instance, in September 2024, Zoho launched Zoho Payments, a full-stack embedded finance platform for Indian businesses, which will allow users to accept and disburse payments, manage accounts, and automate financial workflows beyond disintermediation, using one interface powered by API integrations.

New offerings are enabling mid-sized businesses, startups, and digital-native firms to consume and connect to banking infrastructure, building their payment capabilities in a more API-led manner. API-led integrations will enable smaller firms to connect payment gateways, automate reconciliations, and embed credit or insurance. These offerings reveal a trend in which non-bank tech firms are emerging as key players and contributors to the API economy in India, forcing traditional banks to partner or adapt.

Payment Processing Segment is Dominating the API Banking Market in India

In terms of segmentation, the Payment Processing application remains the leading segment in India's API banking domain. For instance, in August 2024, BharatPe's recently rebranded PostPe platform to BharatPe a new consumer payments app. UPI TPAP is available on the Play Store for all Android users. The company has partnered with Unity Small Finance Bank to enable TPAP.

The app combines payments, credit, rewards, and all merchant discovery features with API backend systems. With BharatPe increasing its uptake in consumer payments, access to the API is crucial for real-time transaction capabilities, credit scoring systems, and analysis. This segment will continue to dominate because customers now look for seamless UPI payments, instant settlements, and in-app funding solutions. Other key API use cases, such as KYC, data aggregation, and account management, are maturing, but payment APIs will act as the cornerstone for most innovations in India.

Key Players Landscape and Outlook

Traditional banks are very active, along with fintech. Banks like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, and Federal Bank all have API portals with over 100 endpoints for payments, account capabilities, KYC, and trade finance. New API enablers, such as Cashfree Payments and RBL Bank, are expanding the competition with their developer-friendly platforms, making India's ecosystem for API banking a competitive and dynamic one.

Flipkart is among the top influencers of API banking in India, with its latest offering (Flipkart SuperMoney) allowing customers to get cash back for every transaction, withdraw some money, or perform every activity done via the app. The embedded finance services indicate Flipkart's shift from e-commerce to fintech, powered through a robust API banking infrastructure that enables digital wallets, savings, and rewards.