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The people and work behind 86400 at GFF 2026.
PLUS: The launches, milestones, new faces and moments that shaped the quarter.
From the Desk of Founders
As we move through this next phase of 86400's journey, what excites us most is the scale of opportunity ahead. We are building more, entering bigger conversations, and taking on greater responsibility as a technology partner to financial institutions. That also means the bar keeps moving. We need to move faster and continue raising the standard of quality and execution. What gives us confidence is the ownership and energy we continue to see across the organisation. There is a lot still to build, and that is exactly what makes this phase exciting."
Average delivery cycle, down from 75 day's
Reduction in average delivery slippage
C-Flows approved or signed off by NPCI, with zero rejections
Average delivery slippage, down from 6.2 days
100+ hours/month
Operational time saved through automated transaction monitoring
Reduction in C-Flow approval turnaround
A special shoutout to colleagues completing work anniversaries.
Sejal Bhodia, Assistant Vice President - Delivery, and Jayshri Dharade, Program Manager, completed their PMP certification this quarter.
Tell us about yourself and your journey at 86400 so far.
I joined Mobileware in 2016 as a Junior Java Developer. The team had around 6 to 7 people then, with only 2 to 3 Java developers. Being there so early meant working closely with seniors, picking up responsibilities well beyond my role, and watching the organisation grow around me. The trust I received in those years shaped my confidence and my sense of ownership.
Early projects on IMPS, Domestic Money Transfer and Core Banking taught me what reliability, security and accuracy demand in financial technology. From there I moved into technical leadership, and today, as a Technical Architect, I lead initiatives across
From a Junior Java Developer in 2016 to leading technical initiatives across Lanka Pay, Cards and UPI today, Sameer Taware's journey reflects what long-term growth at 86400 can look like.
Lanka Pay, Cards and UPI. The team that once fit around a single table now has 60+ developers.
What does your role involve, and what do you enjoy most about it?
My days mix requirement discussions, technical analysis, solution design, implementation reviews and troubleshooting. along with plenty of coordination across teams. The research is my favourite part. I like going deep into a hard problem, weighing the options, choosing an approach and then watching it go live in production. Delivering ahead of the committed timeline is a bonus I take real satisfaction in.
How does your team contribute to the organisation?
We build the payment platforms that process transactions securely and reliably, and that can keep pace with growing business needs. Development builds the solution, QA tests it thoroughly, and PMO keeps planning and delivery on track. Because these teams work so closely, problems surface early and get resolved quickly.
What is one project you are especially proud of?
The SOR for YES BANK and IMPS development at Mobileware is the one that stays with me. It combined critical payment processing, complex integrations and demanding payment flows, and I owned a large share of the technical implementation.
Delivering it gave me the confidence to take on
July to September 2026 harder problems. The Cards project is my current milestone, and it lets me apply years of experience in a new area. Both succeeded because Development, QA, PMO and support teams pulled in the same direction.
How have you grown since joining?
My scope has widened from writing code to owning the full solution lifecycle: understanding the business requirement, researching approaches, designing, supporting development and testing, and weighing production impact. Working across IMPS, Domestic Money Transfer, Core Banking, Lanka Pay, Cards and UPI has broadened my domain knowledge and sharpened my decision-making. The biggest lesson is that growth follows ownership, especially in difficult situations. Critical payment systems have taught me to stay calm, research thoroughly and favour solutions that last.
What do you value most about working here?
The people and the trust. My seniors and colleagues backed me
whenever I took on new challenges, and I see the same spirit during tight deadlines, when every team rallies around finding the right solution. I try to add to that culture by motivating teammates and supporting them through technical or delivery hurdles.
What do you enjoy outside of work, and what's a fun fact about you?
Travel is my favourite way to reset. I love exploring new places, trying local food and taking spontaneous trips with family and friends. I also play cricket and stay involved in social work.
What advice would you give someone joining 86400 or starting out in a similar role?
Stay curious, take ownership and keep learning. 86400 has a friendly, supportive culture and gives people exposure to varied projects, technologies and challenges, so growth comes quickly. Research before making technical decisions, and aim for solutions that are reliable, scalable, maintainable and right for the business need. Support your team along the way, because teamwork, communication and ownership are what turn good solutions into successful deliveries.
In one sentence, how would you describe your journey so far?
A steady climb from Junior Java Developer to Technical Architect, shaped by continuous learning, growing responsibility, demanding payment projects and a team I have been lucky to grow alongside.
My journey has been a rewarding evolution from a Junior Java Developer to a Technical Architect, shaped by continuous learning, increasing responsibility and the opportunity to grow alongside the
PROJECT MANAGEMENT OFFICE PMO: where ambitious plans meet the reality of delivery
The PMO turns business goals into delivered outcomes. We orchestrate teams and run disciplined execution so every initiative lands on time and in step with organisational priorities.
Our priorities were the Microservices transformation, Agile adoption for Cards initiatives, Interoperable Banking (IB-MB), product stability and the UPI PSP App revamp.
Consolidated multiple bank-specific UPI acquiring solutions into one scalable One UPI Merchant Platform Went live with IDFC BBPS and PPI direct NPCI connectivity
Launched Credit Line on UPI and UPI on DMT
⚫ Delivered the AU Bank Migration and a critical TLS Security Upgrade on schedule
Implemented EFRM (Falcon & Clarify) for AU Bank and J&K Bank Deepened our engagement with the NPCI and NBBL (Bharat Connect) teams, bringing quicker turnaround and better success rates on certifications, C-Flows and key operational deliverables
Introduced PM Assist, our Al teammate for automated minutes of meeting
Every delivery and compliance outcome passes through the PMO. We connect Business, Product, Engineering, Audit and Compliance into a single path forward, so a goal set in one function reaches production with every other function already aligned.
Critical requirements often reach us with limited detail, and inter-product dependencies surface only once a ticket arrives. Rigorous planning and close work with the PEM and Development teams keep delivery on track.
Ownership, accountability, attention to detail and a proactive mindset define the team. We anticipate issues early, give each other open feedback and step in quickly when a blocker appears. VOLVE
Thank you for the partnership behind every go-live this quarter. We will keep delivering on time, within scope and at the quality you expect, and we are always a message away when a dependency needs clearing.
"Be prepared for all, even the unknown unknowns!"
From roadmap to reality
⚫ Union Bank of India, BBPS COU: Our first win under the new identity. We will power their mobile and internet banking on one unified platform for three years, with an estimated 10 million transactions. The solution is hosted at our premises through our direct NPCI connectivity.
Fino Bank, BBPS: Secured both the COU and BOU deals.
Zikzuk: The newly formed, RBI-approved PPI issuer chose us to deploy and manage its complete UPI stack, including the core UPI switch, for three years.
Mobilepe PPI: Migrated from one of the industry's leading players. Over a five-year contract, we will deliver the UPI and IMPS stacks, with a projected 40 million transactions a year.
Suryoday Bank: Kicked off a new IB-MB project.
⚫ LankaPay: Engagement and delivery are in progress.
Product launches and go-lives ⚫ Six launches at GFF: IB-MB, CardsXT, Credit on UPI for Repayment, the New PSP App, UPI Tap & Pay and UPI Help 2.0. The teams delivered through tight timelines and heavy cross-functional dependencies.
One UPI Merchant Platform: Multiple bank-specific UPI acquiring solutions now run on one standardised, reusable platform, live across 4+ banks.
Credit Line on UPI: Deployed for J&K Bank.
UPI on DMT: Launched, widening customer payment and money transfer options.
IDFC BBPS (BOU): Integration live, expanding bill payment capabilities.
Three PPIs on direct NPCI connectivity: Eroute, IMONEY and MUFIN went live in Q1 2026. We operate as an ASP with direct connectivity to NPCI NET.
UPI scale: Processed 38 crore UPI transactions for J&K Bank.
UPI microservices: Architecture work is underway to improve scalability, flexibility and modularity.
Delivery milestones
⚫ AU Bank Migration: Completed with minimal business disruption.
TLS Security Upgrade: Delivered,
July to September 2026 strengthening platform security and compliance readiness. ⚫ EFRM (Falcon and Clarify): Implemented for AU Bank and J&K Bank, strengthening fraud detection, risk management and transaction monitoring.
Compliance and audits
. Achieved UPI Information Security (IS) compliance certification.
Completed the PCI DSS and PCI SSF audit for the Cards business.
Completed the NPCI ASP audit, with 1 medium and 3 low-severity findings.
⚫ Submitted the initial NPCI IS audit report to partner banks and NPCI on 30 May 2026. Closure of the final report is in progress, with 3 findings open.
⚫ Cards team on UPI initiatives: Made better use of resources and sped up delivery.
⚫ Biller team on the Yes Bank SOR: Contained escalations and protected on-time delivery.
Virtual Accounts team on the MWT Wallet: Built in-house wallet capabilities in time for the product launch.
⚫ Inside Sales: A new vertical within Account Management now handles lead outreach and has already onboarded 3 leads (Nikhil: 1, Girish: 2).
Automation through BrowsEZ: Transaction summaries now go out to internal and external stakeholders weekly, monthly and quarterly. Monthly commercial approvals from BBPS clients are automated, which supports timely invoicing and cash flow. A new client-facing dashboard shows account health and business performance. Manual dependency has dropped by 100%.
KCCB critical cases: Melvin spent 15 days face-to-face with the client, which brought faster resolution and stronger trust.
⚫ Enterprise knowledge and email: BrowsEZ now connects to SharePoint and Outlook, so users can search, retrieve and summarise documents and emails in plain language.
⚫ Meeting automation: BrowsEZ joins meetings, captures key decisions and action items, and generates the MoM automatically.
Calendar management: Users can create and update Outlook and Teams events through natural-language instructions.
Weekly transaction monitoring: Summaries across all services and banks, with dashboard insights on volumes, BOU/COU and UPI switch metrics, save 100+ operational hours a month.
Congratulations!
A big moment for Sejal Bhodia, recognised at the BW Tech 40 Under 40 Awards 2026.
Went the extra mile for the GFF launch of "Tap and Pay" & "Help 2.0"
Resolved cross-team challenges keeping critical activities on track
RECOGNIZED BY PMM Team
CSM & ORT
Unblocked issues on the spot via his NPCI network to ensure successful delivery
Major contribution in driving Reconciliation use cases and in setting up consistent Metabase responses via the BrowsEZ bot
Goes beyond expectations, delivering value to Al projects and taking full ownership for the Al team
Met tight deadlines despite challenges especially across framework, IBMB, and the GFF release
Showcased strong ownership and teamwork for the IMoney PEM Team Wallet project and her efforts supported the successful
REWARDS & RECOGNITION |
Q2 2026 marks the inaugural cycle of the 86400 R&R Program: and we are proud to share the results. 18 nominations were received across four recognition pillars. Each was evaluated against a structured Situation-Action-Result (SAR) rubric by the HR committee.
Every nomination that earned recognition had one thing in common - it told a story with numbers.
Situation: What specific problem or gap existed?
Action: What did the nominee do - specifically?
Result: What changed - in numbers, outcomes, or client impact?
We are delighted to recognize the colleagues who stood out this quarter.
RECOGNITION FOR Managed 30+ AU Bank FRM integration scenarios in a 10-day window, ensuring smooth production rollout-earning appreciation from AU Bank team and the CEO of 86400.
Delivered UPI Help 2.0 and UPI Tap & Pay end-to-end across two concurrent GFF 2026 initiatives -covering analysis, implementation, NPCI certification, and live deployment for CASA, Credit Card, and Credit Line.
Independently initiated and delivered a fully documented UPI microservices POC using Docker, Jaeger, Grafana, OpenSearch, and Prometheus -creating a scalable observability foundation for future integrations.
RECOGNITION FOR Delivered the CardsXT product along with CMS before the GFF 2026 deadline, meeting stringent timelines for a successful product launch.
Delivered Switch for prepaid cards and achieved PCI SSF certification before GFF -enabling the successful CardsXT product launch.
Delivered Yes Bank Vegapay Credit Line on UPI at GFF 2026, adapting in real time to frequent API changes from the bank - resulting in a successful production launch with client and NPCI appreciation.
Proactively identified a reconciliation logic gap for Kalupur Bank that would have caused 2,000+ incorrect transaction statuses and a potential financial exposure of 250 lakhs - escalated to Product & Tech and drove the fix to completion.
Led MVP1 closure, PCI DSS and PCI SSF certifications, and the PPI Enablement Platform launch coordinating across ITS, APS, PEM, PMM, InfoSec, Legal, and external auditors to deliver three high-stakes streams simultaneously.
RECOGNITION FOR Resolved multiple client alerts and production incidents independently-including a bank escalation on 19 Sep -identified and fixed a broken account-block tool benefiting the entire team, consistently handling issues beyond shift hours.
Coordinated TPAP integrations, GFF UPI feature delivery (UPI Help 2.0, Tap & Pay), AU CBS migration, and 27 AU Bank tickets- acting as central delivery point across NPCI, bank teams, and internal stakeholders.
Solutioned and built the Reconciliation product from the ground up within the Al team when existing dev teams had no bandwidth -launching a new product vertical that generates 2 lakhs per month in revenue.
Co-built the Reconciliation product from scratch for partner PAs -a live product now generating 2 lakhs per month in revenue for 86400 and creating direct GTM value with new customers.
No winners in this pillar this quarter
RECOGNITION FOR Delivered CardsXT and UPI Apps within committed timelines, contributing to the successful GFF 2026 product launch.
Restored a critical production system within SLA through continuous monitoring and coordinated bank communication -preventing wider service disruption.
Successfully launched Vegapay Credit Line on GFF 2026 despite unclear and frequently changing bank APIs - delivering to production with client appreciation and NPCI recognition on record.
Transitioned into a Presales role, independently creating product presentations and contributing to RFP responses for SSPL, Bandhan Bank, and CBI -demonstrating strong initiative in expanding his scope beyond operations.
We wanted to get to know our team a little better beyond their roles and responsibilities, so we kicked things off with a simple, fun poll. Nothing work-related, just a little glimpse into the people who make up our team.
ili What do you enjoy doing most in your free time?
Worth your time: one article, one podcast, one book recommendation relevant to fintech, leadership, or personal growth that drives contribution
Read:
A useful read for anyone interested in how mobile payments are designed around trust, usability and the realities of financial transactions.
PRINCIPLES AND BEST PEACTICES FOR MOBILE COMMENCE
Skip Allums
Listen:
Slice's Leap: From Fintech Disruptor to India's Next Big Bank
A conversation around building banking infrastructure in-house, first-time users, Credit via UPI and the role of Al at banking scale.
Explore:
Watch on the NPCI YouTube channel.
The RBI's framework for understanding where India's payments ecosystem is headed and the infrastructure that will support its next phase.
10 HR AT WORK
Building a better culture: new initiatives from HR
A smoother start for every new joiner:
A 30-60-90 day plan to settle in, orient, and build connections, backed by a Buddy Program that guides new hires through onboarding
90-days pulse check:
A platform for new joinees to have two-way conversation with HR to share their 90-days onboarding feedback
Quarterly Newsletter:
The Pulse, our quarterly newsletter, launched from Q2 FY 2026-27, keeps the whole team in the loop
Reformed review cycle:
Transition from Annual Reviews to Quarterly Performance Reviews (QPR) to encourage continuous feedback and to foster a more proactive and collaborative approach
A better first impression: Pre-onboarding automation that simplifies the journey for every candidate
Admitting a mistake early so the team can help fix it.
Sending a quick "On it" or "Done" to close the loop on a request.
Starting a meeting by asking a colleague about their weekend before diving into tasks.
Suggesting one small change to a recurring meeting to make it 10 minutes shorter.
Taking 2 extra minutes to proof read and format an internal document before sharing.
Asking yourself: "Would I be happy with this solution if I were the client?"
12 86400 AT GLOBAL FINTECH
At Global Fintech Fest 2026, 86400 moved from the booth floor into some of the industry's biggest conversations around payments, banking partnerships and Al.
But the conversations were just as important as the launches!
The Future of Banking Partnership: Unlocking Growth Through Al &
Financial Ecosystems
POWERING POSSIBILITIES
Amitabh Kanekar with Hemant Verma, Punjab & Sind Bank
From Infrastructure to Adoption: Scaling Digital Payments in Sri Lanka
mes
Rohan Agrawal with Hithesh Fernando and Harsha de Silva, LankaPay
GLOBAL FINTECH
FEST
The Future of Digital Banking in the Era of UPI Dominance
POWERING POSSIBILITIES
Rajesh Ghosh with Ravinder Singh, SVC Co-operative Bank
And on stage, joined the conversation on: Engineering Enterprise Systems: Deploying Al in Financial Services
Carlin Crasto CTO 86400
The part nobody sees in the photographs!
A launch may take a few minutes on stage. Getting it there takes considerably longer. The GFF showcase brought together teams across Product, Engineering, Sales, Marketing and Operations to prepare demos, coordinate launches, manage conversations and keep the booth moving throughout the event.
From the first setup to the final conversation, the booth became a working snapshot of 86400 itself: technology being demonstrated, questions being answered and new conversations beginning in real time.
At the booth
The new PSP App experience was showcased at the 86400 booth, while UPI Tap & Pay and UPI Help 2.0 were presented at the NPCI booth.
Credit on UPI Repayment was presented with NBBL. Banking Connect, was showcased with Suryoday and NBBL, & CardsXT as a Service was launched with iMoney.
#GFF
Special thanks to Sumedh Kanekar and Shivani Khandelwal for their contribution to the launches.
PAYMENT INFRASTRUCTURE BEHIND WHAT'S NEXT THE DIGITAL
Evolve to Excel:
14 | FUN @ 86400
When the laptops close, the teams look a little different.
The annual offsite took place on 10 and 11 July at Paramount Riverfront Resort. The co-founders shared their vision for the organisation, followed by discussions around Al use cases.
The evening transitioned into an energetic DJ night, giving the team a chance create unforgettable memories together!
Day Two was all about clarity, connection and celebration! From insightful learnings in an empowering session on "Leading with Clarity and Intention" to an energetic team building activity, the day culminated in a spirited Rewards & Recognition celebration, ending on a high note!
EVOLVE
Independence Day:
Our Mumbai & Kolhapur offices marked Independence Day with snacks and a round of trivia.
Ganesh Chaturthi:
On 17 September, teams came together in Indo-festive attire for Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations. The day included snacks and a clay art competition, with the winning team and runners-up recognised.
15 ON THE HORIZON
Wellness Session - Expert-led session on heart health.
Men's Day - A conversation around the people and culture that shape our work- place
The quarter had its share of launches, audits, new clients, new colleagues, milestones and conversations. The work continues. See you in the next issue!
POWERING POSSIBILITIES www.86400.in