In today's globalized economy, digitization is a necessity, not an option. Firms from various industries are embracing digital technologies for enhanced efficiency, competitiveness, and innovation. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which form the backbone of India's economy, this change is especially crucial. Right from adopting digital payments to embracing new financial services, SMEs are undergoing a core change in the way they function.
On this episode of the Analytics Insight Podcast, host Priya Dialani interviews Raman Khanduja, Co-Founder and CEO of MintOak, a firm facilitating seamless payment and financial services for millions of merchants. Mr. Khanduja discusses how the payment ecosystem in India has evolved and why SMEs are at the forefront of this change.
MintOak is an SME merchant SaaS platform aimed at making all aspects of payments and financial services manageable for SMEs. In its core app, merchants are enabled to receive payments through cards, UPI, QR codes, and even cash. In addition to transactions, the platform offers digital tools for efficiently operating businesses, as well as loans, credit cards, and other financial products.
What sets MintOak apart is its partnership-based model. The company collaborates with top banks like HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, and SBI, powering their merchant apps under white-label conditions. This partnership provides SMEs access to reputable financial institutions coupled with advanced fintech solutions. Now, more than 3.6 million merchants are on MintOak's platform, processing an aggregate of over ₹30,000 crore in monthly transactions.
Mr. Khanduja refers to MintOak as the’backstage crew of a payments concert’, obscured to consumers but essential to making seamless payments possible.
MintOak was started in 2017 by Raman Khanduja and his co-founders, having spent years at Visa. The team saw that India was on the verge of a financial revolution after demonetization. Instead of implementing global strategies cut from elsewhere, they desired to create a solution for India's specific SME environment. The belief was firm: the coming decades would be India's, and payments would be a sunrise industry. This has been the driving force behind MintOak's creation: its mission to empower SMEs with payments, digital capabilities, and financial inclusion.
The transformation in India's payment ecosystem in the last decade has been humongous. In 2017, when MintOak was established, India had approximately 3 million SMEs receiving digital payments, mostly through POS machines. Transactions per month were 500 million, with 36 million UPI transactions.
Flash forward to 2025, and the scene is totally different. Now, more than 60 million Indian merchants accept digital payments, driven by the widespread adoption of smartphones. UPI itself facilitates 12.5 billion transactions each month, in addition to half a billion card transactions. This jump from 500 million to a staggering 13 billion transactions per month is one of the biggest financial revolutions in recent history.
As Mr. Khanduja points out, consumers today demand frictionless payments, immediate confirmations, and a range of options. SMEs that fail to meet these expectations risk losing their clients to larger competitors. The move, therefore, is not merely about digital adoption but creating a customer-centric ecosystem.
MintOak bridges this gap by integrating payments with added-value services like inventory management, customer analytics, and lending solutions. Thus, enabling SMEs to make informed decisions and remain competitive.
The path of digital payments in India speaks volumes about the nation's resilience and adaptability. With fintech platforms such as MintOak facilitating easy integration of financial services and payments, SMEs are more empowered than ever to succeed. As Mr. Khanduja points out, the vision is simple: make payments easier, offer digital tools, and widen access to financial services. Doing this, however, turns companies such as MintOak not only into SME transformers but into makers of the future of India's digital economy.
Listen to the whole discussion on the Analytics Insight Podcast to navigate the changing landscape of digital marketing effectively.