With the latest onboarding, Banking Connect is now available across eight banks, including State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank. The platform is also integrated with 11 payment aggregators, enabling access to a wide merchant network.
Axis Bank customers—estimated at around 37 million—will now be able to use the platform for payments across more than 4,800 merchants. The integration is aimed at simplifying the net-banking checkout experience through a more uniform interface.
How Banking Connect works
Banking Connect acts as a shared, interoperable layer between banks and payment aggregators. Instead of separate integrations with each bank, payment aggregators can connect once to the platform and offer net-banking options across multiple banks.
For users, this typically results in:
- A more consistent checkout experience across websites and apps
- Standardised authentication flows
- Potentially faster transaction processing
For merchants and payment aggregators, the system offers:
Reduced integration timelines via APIs and standard toolkits
Lower reliance on multiple bilateral bank tie-ups
Improved payment reliability through unified infrastructure
Push toward interoperable payment rails
The expansion reflects a broader industry shift toward interoperable digital payment systems. Platforms like Banking Connect aim to reduce fragmentation in net-banking payments by creating common rails that work across institutions.
The initiative also aligns with the Reserve Bank of India’s Payment Vision 2028, which emphasises secure, scalable, and interoperable payment frameworks.
What’s next
NBBL is working on additional features for Banking Connect, including direct-to-merchant settlements, third-party verification (TPV), and mandate and lien capabilities. These are expected to support more complex and high-volume payment use cases as adoption grows.
The onboarding of Axis Bank adds to the platform’s scale, as stakeholders across the ecosystem continue to move toward more standardised and integrated payment infrastructure.
First Published: Apr 9, 2026 1:14 PM IST
