NPCI appoints industry veteran Rajola as executive director of growth

 

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has appointed Sohini Rajola as the executive director – growth as part of the apex payments body’s leadership.

 

Rajola will be responsible for driving the adoption of NPCI’s payment solutions. She will lead product enhancement initiatives aligned with the body’s strategy and market needs, and oversee business development and go-to-market plans of the organisation.

 

Her responsibilities will also include managing strategic alliances and partnerships with banking institutions, fintech companies, government authorities, and regulatory institutions.

 

Before joining NPCI, Rajola was the Asia-Pacific regional head at Western Union and served as the digital banking head and cards head at Axis Bank.

 

“Sohini brings with her a wealth of experience in the payments and digital banking space. Her expertise will be invaluable in leading forward-thinking initiatives and driving innovative technical solutions to address both current and future market demands,” said Dilip Asbe, managing director and chief executive officer, NPCI.

 

Her appointment comes at a time when NPCI’s flagship product Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has scaled new heights in terms of the volumes processed.

 

UPI transactions reached record highs in both value and volume in March 2025, clocking Rs 24.77 trillion and 19.78 billion transactions, respectively.

 

This marked a rise of 13 per cent in value and 14 per cent in volume over February, driven by a surge in year-end transactions, according to data from the NPCI.

 

This is the first time UPI value has crossed Rs 24 trillion and transactions have surpassed 19 billion since the system became operational in April 2016.

 

For the financial year 2024–25 (FY25), UPI transactions rose 30 per cent in value to Rs 260.56 trillion, up from Rs 199.96 trillion in FY24. Volume increased 42 per cent to 131.14 billion transactions compared with 92.48 billion in the previous year.