The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) will deploy a single, interoperable soundbox device that can confirm payments from any UPI app, starting with a pilot in April 2025, according to inc42.com. The infrastructure will be built and maintained by NPCI, with hardware supplied by multiple OEM partners.
The rollout follows a directive from the Reserve Bank of India to reduce clutter at merchant counters caused by multiple proprietary soundboxes from Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay and others. NPCI will certify vendors and set technical standards; banks and fintechs will then distribute the unified device under their own branding while paying NPCI a recurring service fee. The pilot will begin in Bengaluru and Mumbai with 5,000 kirana stores before scaling nationally, inc42.com reported.
Soundboxes have become a staple for 10 million small merchants since Paytm introduced the first version in 2019; the market now sees 1.5 million new devices shipped each quarter, per industry estimates cited by inc42.com. A common device could cut hardware costs by 30-40 % and free up counter space, but it also threatens the customer-acquisition edge that fintechs gained by subsidising proprietary boxes. Global parallels include Visa’s Tap to Phone initiative and Mastercard’s SoftPOS push, both aimed at consolidating acceptance hardware.
NPCI aims to certify at least three OEMs by June 2025 and cover 500,000 merchants by December, inc42.com noted. Watch for pricing announcements from banks and whether Paytm, PhonePe and Google Pay continue to push their own boxes alongside the unified model.