Scapia and Pluang raised funds; Grab takes majority of Super Bank Indonesia | TWIF Asia - 23 May, 2026

Optimo Capital reported 394% revenue growth to ₹70cr ($7.3M) and 416% profit jump to ₹14cr ($1.5M) in FY26.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) grew forex reserves by ₹60,246cr ($6.3bn) to $697bn.

India's retail credit portfolio reached ₹170.2 lakh crore ($1.8tn) in March 2026, grew 16.6% YoY, with gold loans surging 50.4% while home loans expanded only 9.4%.

Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) reported ₹57,419cr ($6bn) standalone profit after tax, growing 19.3% YoY in FY26, with value of new business surging 41.6% and total premium income rising 9.8% to ₹5,35,984cr ($56bn).

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) processed 85.5% of India's payment transaction volumes in H2 2025 but accounted for just 9.5% of total value, while Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) dominated with 68.6% of value.

Muthoot Fincorp approved ₹4,000cr ($418M) Initial Public Offering (IPO) and 1:5 stock split, alongside ₹8,000cr ($840M) debt fundraising plans in FY26.

Paramotor Digital Technology, a SaaS company that provides digital payment, consumer spend management, and rewards and loyalty solutions, filed confidential Initial Public Offering (IPO) papers with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for mainboard listing.

Aditya Birla Capital raised ₹4,000cr ($420M) from parent Aditya Birla Group and International Finance Corporation (IFC) to fund growth in lending and digital services.

Bajaj General Insurance launched health insurance riders including 'Age Shield' to lock premiums, 'My Health Care Plan Edge+' with sum insured up to ₹5cr ($523K).

Paytm launched Pocket Money, enabling teenagers to make UPI payments without bank accounts, with monthly limits of ₹15,000 ($160) and parental controls.

India's Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) framework resolved over 8,800 Corporate Insolvency Resolution Processes (CIRPs) till December 2025, recovering ₹4.11 lakh crore ($43bn).

Skydo received in-principle approval as cross-border Payment Service Provider at GIFT City IFSC.

SEBI, NISM and IICA signed MoU to strengthen corporate governance, ESG frameworks in Indian capital markets.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) proposed stricter loan recovery framework prohibiting harassment, intimidation, device blocking, and requiring agent training.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) proposed regulations allowing lenders to restrict mobile phone functionalities for defaulting borrowers, effective October 1, 2026.

Scapia, an Indian travel payments startup, raised ₹600cr ($63M).

Novio, an FD backed credit card startup, raised ₹100cr ($10.5M).

Trackk, a Gen Z-focused trading startup, raised ₹35cr ($3.7M).

Kalpi, a quantitative investing startup, raised ₹3.75cr ($400K).

Prudential plc will acquire 75% stake in Bharti Life Insurance for ₹3,500cr ($366M), valuing the business at INR 7,000-8,000cr ($750-850M).

Oxyzo, a supply chain finance startup, acquired GoldenPi Technologies, a retail fixed income investment startup.

Yuno, a financial infrastructure startup, partnered with Tabby, a Saudi Arabian BNPL startup allowing Yuno merchants to offer Tabby’s “Pay in 4” interest-free payment option to consumers at checkout across Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Jenfi, a Singaporean revenue based finance startup, crossed $100M in Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) financing across Southeast Asia.

Fireblocks, a digital asset infrastructure company, launched Agentic Payments Suite enabling AI agents to initiate stablecoin payments across blockchains with compliance and security controls.

Raqami Islamic Digital Bank, a digital retail bank in Pakistan, has been granted license to commence operations by State Bank of Pakistan.

Tazapay integrated iPiD's payee verification tools to enable real-time account validation for cross-border payments across 70+ markets.

GXS Bank partnered with Lion Global Investors to launch diversified investment funds across bonds, equities, commodities and gold.

Mastercard launched Merchant Trust Services to help banks detect scam merchants earlier using network intelligence and real-time analytics.

DBS Bank partnered with Climate Bonds Initiative to develop climate adaptation financing approaches and internal banking capabilities across APAC, targeting $365bn) annual investment needs by 2035.

Franklin Templeton in Singapore partnered with DigiFT to expand institutional access to Benji tokenisation platform for U.S. government securities across Asia.

Trust Bank, a Singaporean digital bank backed by a partnership between Standard Chartered and FairPrice Group, reduced human-handled customer chats by 50% and complaints by 40% after deploying its Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) chatbot.

Contour Network, a Singapore-based digital trade finance network, proposed applying Thailand's PromptPay model to modernise global trade finance, integrating digitalised letters of credit with blockchain-enabled settlement across 81M+ daily transactions.

Funding Societies partnered with Boost Bank to provide property-backed business financing for Malaysian SMEs and MSMEs.

Danamon Bank Indonesia partnered with MUFG Bank to integrate its operations with MUFG’s Jakarta offices.

iFAST Global Bank, an Asian wealth management and banking company, launched Worldwide Scan & Pay, a cross-border QR payment feature enabling cardless transactions at 150M+ merchants across 220+ markets.

Wego, travel metasearch engine in Singapore and Dubai, partnered with Triple-A to introduce stablecoin payments for travel bookings with fiat settlement.

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) made financial advice optional for most investors buying complex products, shifting towards a disclosure-based framework.

Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister urged banks to use artificial intelligence to create jobs and upskill employees rather than simply cutting costs, following Standard Chartered's announcement of 8,000 job cuts by decade's end.

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) revoked Bsquared Technology's Major Payment Institution License following serious regulatory breaches and false information submissions.

Pluang, an Indonesian stock trading startup, raised $10M.

Jia, a Philippine SME banking startup, raised $3M.

Mizuho Bank swapped its 14.9% equity stake in Rakuten Card for shares in Rakuten Bank.

Grab consolidated its Super Bank Indonesia stakeholding by acquiring majority stake exceeding 50%.