Citibank to Launch 'Spring by Citi' Digital Payments Product in India Q2; Vineeth Subramanyam Reveals Plans

Citibank is gearing up to introduce its innovative digital payments solution, 'Spring by Citi,' in India during the second quarter of this year (April-June), as shared by Vineeth Subramanyam, Managing Director and Global Head of Spring by Citi, in a recent interview. With its footprint already spanning about 24 countries, Spring by Citi facilitates seamless business-to-business and direct-to-customer payments while integrating with diverse payment methods across various geographies.

Subramanyam elaborated, "Think of a merchant seeking to accept diverse payment methods like cards, wallets, and bank accounts from global markets. Spring serves as a payment gateway and acquirer, empowering clients to enable multiple payment methods."

He further highlighted the global reach and local relevance of Spring, stating, "We support various payment methods in each market, such as iDEAL in the Netherlands, GiroPay in Germany, and UPI in India. Our approach ensures global product coverage with localized execution, catering to the specific needs of regional buyers."

The impending launch of Spring in India follows Citibank's strategic move to exit Retail Banking in the country, focusing instead on serving large local companies, multinationals, financial institutions, and emerging and mid-sized firms.

Aside from enabling diverse payment methods, Spring also offers an array of platform services including tokenization, recurring transactions, reporting, reconciliation with treasury, and cash management services.

Santosh Dujari, Head of Treasury and Trade Solutions for the Indian subcontinent at Citibank, emphasized the company's dual focus on advancing the payments landscape in India. She revealed, "We have two key priorities: the launch of Citi Payment Express, our next-gen, cloud-enabled, API-led, high-performance, low-latency platform, and Spring by Citi, a unified collection solution tailored for clients across industries."

Dujari further noted the evolving digital payment preferences among Indian consumers, primarily driven by the widespread adoption of UPI. She underscored the significance of these solutions as "digital catalysts" for Citibank's payments business growth.

Acknowledging the transformation in India's payment landscape, Dujari emphasized the need to deliver holistic and comprehensive solutions across payments & collections to meet customer expectations.

Since its inception in August 2016, UPI has revolutionized digital payments in India, with transaction volumes exceeding 10 billion per month since August 2023. In February alone, UPI transactions surpassed 12.1 billion, reflecting the increasing reliance on digital payment channels in the country.