From the CapTable Why Razorpay must show there’s life beyond payments The senior executive found Razorpay’s job offer tempting. Though a mid-level role, the fintech startup ticked all the right boxes, at least at first glance: a scorching growth pace, healthy profits, and IPO-bound. But a nagging unease made him take a closer look. Razorpay, which was then close to its reverse flip to India, had been all over the news—launching credit cards, payroll, lending products, and even a consumer Unified Payments Interface (UPI) app. But these were still minor players. Razorpay’s bread and butter was still its payment gateway and aggregation services. Quite understandably so, as the fintech company had built a payment engine that rivalled the best in the world, with even its biggest competitors secretly conceding its efficiency. The executive’s concerns, though, ran deeper than surface impressions. The payments business had turned savage. Where companies once pocketed close to 100 basis points as margins, they were now apparently scrambling for 15-60. The race wasn’t just about scale anymore: it was a fight for survival as transaction fees crumbled. “It’s a scale game,” the executive recalls thinking, “but it’s also a race to the bottom.”
He walked away from the opportunity. His hesitation, though, illuminates Razorpay’s central challenge. Years of investment have created an impressive fintech portfolio, yet payments still generate four-fifths of total revenue. With a public market debut looming, Razorpay must prove its diversification story to a much wider audience than the senior executive who refused its job offer, as investors are often much more impatient and discerning than potential employees.
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