India, Nov. 26 -- Beware! As they say, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch, and this is especially true in the financial domain. Just as we had started to boast about the homegrown Unified Payments Interface (UPI) - an inclusive, user-friendly and largely free digital payments ecosystem developed and run by the umbrella entity National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) - the Reserve Bank of India gave the green light to yet another New Umbrella Entity (NUE) in the retail payments space.

The most significant differentiator in this case: The NUE will be a 'for-profit venture that will develop and push technology solutions, build niche expertise and, of course, earn 'profits' in the process (more on that later). As the RBI draft fra...