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Artwork for Innovators Playground by NPCI

Innovators Playground by NPCI

National Payments Corporation of India
Artificial Intelligence
India
Phonepe
Kunal Shah
Paypal
Groww
Slice Bank
Wingify
Lossfunk AI
Zoho
Cross-Border Payments
CRED
Agentic Commerce
UPI
Finternet
Credit
Stablecoin PYUSD
Core Banking

‘Innovators Playground’ is a podcast series where we explore the cutting-edge innovations and insights shaping the future of technology. It brings conversations with leading founders, industry experts, and thinkers to inspire and inform youth around the world.

PublishesMonthlyEpisodes11Foundeda year ago
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Artwork for Innovators Playground by NPCI

Latest Episodes

In this episode of NPCI’s Innovators Playground Podcast, @Dilip Asbe sits down with @Sridhar Vembu, Co-founder and Chief Scientist, @Zoho, to unpack what it will take for India to build world class #AI technology that is self-reliant and designed for... more

In this episode of Innovators Playground, Dilip Asbe, MD and CEO, NPCI, sits down with Paras Chopra, Founder, Wingify and Lossfunk, to unpack what it takes to build, think, and stay relevant in an AI led world that is rewriting the rules faster than ... more

In this episode of Innovators Playground, Dilip Asbe, MD and CEO, NPCI, sits down with Rajan Bajaj, Founder and ED, slice, for a candid conversation on how a fintech company is rethinking banking itself, from core technology and credit models to AI, ... more

In this episode of Innovators Playground Podcast by NPCI, Dilip Asbe, MD and CEO, NPCI, speaks with Lalit Keshre, Co Founder and CEO, Groww, on how Groww built for scale using time tested open source, why simplicity takes constant defence, and what s... more

In this episode of Innovators Playground Podcast by NPCI, we welcome our first global guest, Alex Chriss, President and CEO of PayPal, in a wide-ranging conversation with Dilip Asbe, MD and CEO, NPCI, on the future of global commerce, AI-led experien... more

In this special episode of Innovators Playground by NPCI, Mr. C S Setty, Chairman of State Bank of India, joins Dilip Asbe for a rare insider look at how SBI is reimagining banking at national scale, from village touchpoints to AI-driven risk systems... more

What does it really take to build India’s future?

In Episode 4 of Innovators Playground by NPCI, Kunal Shah, Founder of CRED, joins Dilip Asbe for an unfiltered conversation on ambition, risk, AI, and the mindset to scale big.

Here’s what you’ll le... more

In the third episode of Innovators Playground by NPCI, Dilip Asbe speaks with Dr. Pramod Varma, Former Chief Architect of India Stack, Co-Creator, Finternet & Beckn, to explore what it takes to engineer systems at billion-user scale.

Key takeaways: more

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Recent Guests

Sridhar Vembu
Chief Scientist and Co-Founder of Zoho
Zoho
Episode: Can India Build Its Own AI Destiny? | Sridhar Vembu X Dilip Asbe
Paras Chopra
Founder; former CEO of Wingify; founder of Lossfunk AI
Lossfunk AI / Wingify
Episode: The Anti-Playbook for Techies: In The AI-Led World | Paras Chopra X Dilip Asbe
Rajan Bajaj
Founder/CEO of Slice, building India's digital bank
Slice Bank
Episode: slice’s Leap: From Fintech Disruptor to India’s Next Big Bank | Rajan Bajaj X Dilip Asbe
Lalit Keshre
Founder and CEO of Groww
Groww
Episode: Engineering Groww with Lalit Keshre: Lessons on scale, simplicity and smart tech choices | Lalit Keshre X Dilip Asbe
Alex Chriss
President and CEO of PayPal
PayPal
Episode: Reimagining Global Payments: PayPal's Vision For AI, Innovation, And Agentic Commerce | Alex Chriss X Dilip Asbe
Kunal Shah
Founder of CRED; discussed as guest on the episode
CRED
Episode: Future-Ready: A Playbook for Engineers and Dreamers | Kunal Shah X Dilip Asbe
Pramod Varma
Chief Architect of India, NPCI
NPCI
Episode: India’s Digital Revolution: Pramod Varma X Dilip Asbe
Rahul Chari
Co-founder of PhonePe, builder of scalable payments platforms
PhonePe
Episode: Scaling India’s Payments: Rahul Chari X Dilip Asbe

Host

Dilip Asbe
Host of Innovators Playground

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

slice’s Leap: From Fintech Disruptor to India’s Next Big Bank | Rajan Bajaj X Dilip Asbe
Q: How do you plan to design for the 700-300 million users who will access credit through digital channels?
By creating a viral, low-cost credit product driven by spending patterns, automations, and a robust digital experience—so users can access credit through UPI and other digital rails without costly, traditional acquisition methods.
slice’s Leap: From Fintech Disruptor to India’s Next Big Bank | Rajan Bajaj X Dilip Asbe
Q: Why is Slice moving from fintech founder to banker by building a bank rather than continuing as a fintech-focused company?
The scale of India's market and the need for stable, accessible credit required a banking backbone; in-house core banking and a modular microservices approach enable faster iterations, deeper inclusion, and a better customer experience at scale.
Scaling India’s Payments: Rahul Chari X Dilip Asbe
Q: What is your view on AI's impact on PhonePe and software engineering, and how are you approaching it?
AI is transforming development, but we're proceeding cautiously: preserving explainability, implementing governance through a platform layer, auditing tool usage, and planning to selectively enable on-device and edge-assisted capabilities while continuing to validate production-grade reliability.
Scaling India’s Payments: Rahul Chari X Dilip Asbe
Q: What lessons from Flipkart helped you scale PhonePe during major shopping events, and how did you handle the spike in transactions?
We learned the importance of preparing for massive load by designing platforms for scale from day one, including isolating databases per service, early sharding, and avoiding a single chokepoint. The team built on lessons from Flipkart's high-traffic events to ensure the gateway and payment flows remained resilient under peak concurrency.
Scaling India’s Payments: Rahul Chari X Dilip Asbe
Q: How has the UPI ecosystem evolved since its initial design, and what principles guided PhonePe's platform choices?
The system has evolved from a simple, centralized spec into a more extensible, UX-driven architecture. We emphasized a clean API surface, sharding from day one, and building an app as a complete ecosystem with edge-aware syncing and priority-based networking to maintain snappiness while scaling.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Innovators Playground by NPCI

What is Innovators Playground by NPCI about and what kind of topics does it cover?

The series leans into high-signal conversations with founders, technologists, and leaders who sit at the intersection of fintech, AI, and large-scale digital infrastructure. Episodes frequently explore India's payments ecosystem, platform architecture, and the strategic use of AI to enable broader financial inclusion, cross-border commerce, and national digital initiatives. Notable tensions include balancing rapid product shipping with robust architecture, the role of open source and in-house data centers, and how policy, ecosystem support, and edge computing can unlock scalable tech for mass adoption. Listeners are likely to find practical engineering and product lessons, leadership perspectives, and a clear view of how national-scale digi... more

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Innovators Playground by NPCI launched a year ago and published 11 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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What guests have appeared on Innovators Playground by NPCI?

Recent guests on Innovators Playground by NPCI include:

1. Sridhar Vembu
2. Paras Chopra
3. Rajan Bajaj
4. Lalit Keshre
5. Alex Chriss
6. Kunal Shah
7. Pramod Varma
8. Rahul Chari

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