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As UPI matures into a core financial rail, banks are no longer extending credit through a single product. Instead, they are designing multi-rail credit portfolios that combine different credit instruments on the same payment infrastructure.
Banks increasingly design credit line on UPI and card-based credit together to serve different payment and credit use cases—without forcing one product to replace the other.
Two models are commonly deployed:
These models are often misunderstood as competing options. In practice, banks use both together as part of a cohesive, issuer-controlled credit strategy.
UPI today supports:
However, credit behaviour is not uniform across customers, merchants, or transaction contexts.
Banks therefore need:
This naturally leads to a multi-rail credit architecture, where different credit instruments coexist on the same payment rail without operational conflict.
Credit Line on UPI (CLOU) allows banks to offer:
CLOU is commonly used for:
From an issuer perspective, CLOU behaves like UPI-native digital lending infrastructure, not a card substitute.
This model is typically applied to:
Importantly, card-based credit on UPI is network-agnostic, operating across all major card networks without dependency on any single ecosystem.
Forward-looking banks do not choose one model over the other.
They design complementary credit rails:
In many portfolios, CLOU acts as a feeder rail, allowing banks to observe repayment behaviour and transaction discipline before graduating customers into card-based credit products.
Although both models operate on UPI, backend systems must remain distinct.
Banks typically operate:
This separation ensures:
Independent risk and compliance governance
Risk governance varies by rail:
Banks that recognise these differences avoid forcing uniform risk logic across fundamentally different credit instruments.
CARD91 enables banks to operate Credit Line on UPI and card-based credit programs across all major networks, without architectural or operational bias.
With CARD91, banks can:
This positions CARD91 as a network-agnostic, issuer-first infrastructure partner.
The future of UPI credit is not about choosing one rail over another.
A balanced portfolio combining credit line on UPI and card-based credit is becoming standard for banks.
Banks that succeed:
Multi-rail credit design is no longer optional—it is core to scalable UPI-based lending.
Q: How do banks use credit line on UPI and card-based credit together?
A: Banks deploy CLOU for high-frequency, real-time credit use cases and card-based credit for structured, billing-cycle-based portfolios.
Q: Is credit line on UPI a replacement for card-based credit?
A: No. CLOU complements card portfolios but does not replace them.
Q: Can the same infrastructure support credit line on UPI and card-based credit?
A: Yes, if lifecycle management, risk, and reporting systems are clearly separated.
Planning a network-agnostic, multi-rail UPI credit strategy?
See how CARD91 enables banks to operate Credit Line on UPI and card-based credit programs with full issuer control. Book a Demo
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