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Decentro

Pay-per-use banking APIs for Indian fintech

Banking APIs 4.3 / 5 Pay-per-use from ₹2/call Updated Mar 2026 🇮🇳 India Built
🏦 Best for early-stage fintech in India

Quick Verdict

Decentro is the easiest way to integrate banking APIs in India. Pay-per-use pricing (₹2–50 per API call) means you only pay for what you use — no hidden monthly fees or volume commitments. Account opening, KYC, UPI, and lending APIs all work out of the box with bank partnerships already set up. The biggest fintech apps (200+ clients including lending, neobanking, and trading platforms) use Decentro because integration takes days, not months. The only limitation: for high-volume operations (100M+ API calls/year), custom enterprise deals are cheaper than per-call pricing.

Availability (India)
4.8/5
Ease of integration
4.0/5
Value for money
4.5/5
Support quality
4.4/5

What is Decentro?

Decentro is an India-based banking infrastructure company founded in 2015 in Bengaluru. It provides pay-per-use APIs that connect Indian fintech apps directly to bank infrastructure for account opening, KYC verification, UPI transfers, lending APIs, and collections. Unlike traditional banking software vendors that require enterprise contracts and months of integration, Decentro lets you start in 3–5 days with no minimums.

The company has partnerships with ICICI, HDFC, YES Bank, and others to distribute account opening APIs. Over 200 fintech companies use Decentro for everything from neobanking platforms to lending marketplaces. Decentro is trusted by companies at all stages — early-stage startups test with free credits, scaling companies integrate production APIs, and enterprise teams negotiate volume discounts.

Quick facts: Founded 2015 · Bengaluru, India · 200+ active clients · NBFC-registered · RBI-compliant · APIs cover account opening, KYC, UPI, lending, collections · No monthly minimums · Pay-per-use pricing

Core Banking APIs

Account Opening API

Instant digital savings account opening with eKYC. Users verify Aadhaar, complete KYC, and get account number in minutes. Linked to ICICI, HDFC, YES Bank.

KYC Verification APIs

Aadhaar eKYC, PAN verification, bank statement parsing, GST data lookup. All RBI-compliant. Works with DigiLocker for automated document verification.

UPI APIs

Send money, request money, collect payments via UPI. All UPI features available via API. Integrated with NPCI infrastructure.

Lending APIs

CIBIL integration, loan origination APIs, co-lending APIs. Connect directly to CIBIL for credit scores and loan eligibility checks.

Collections APIs

Auto-debit setup, recurring payment APIs, demand generation. Used by lending platforms for loan repayment automation.

Bank Statement Parsing

Upload PDF bank statements, get structured JSON data: transactions, balance history, account details. Used for underwriting and credit scoring.

Pricing (Pay-Per-Use Model)

Decentro pricing is transaction-based. No monthly fees, no minimums.

Account Opening

₹10–15
Per account attempt
  • ✅ Digital KYC
  • ✅ eSign
  • ✅ Account number
  • ✅ IFSC, MMID

UPI Transfers

₹0.50–2
Per transaction
  • ✅ Send money
  • ✅ Request payments
  • ✅ Collect via UPI
  • ✅ Instant settlement

Volume Discounts

20–40% off
At 100K+ calls/month
  • ✅ Custom enterprise pricing
  • ✅ Dedicated support
  • ✅ SLA guarantees
  • ✅ Priority queue
🇮🇳 Free credits for testing: Decentro provides free test credits (usually ₹5,000–10,000) for integration. You can test all APIs in sandbox before going live. Only pay when you deploy to production.

Who Should Use Decentro

  • Early-stage fintech (Seed–Series A) — Decentro's pay-per-use model means zero upfront cost. You can launch account opening or lending products without enterprise contracts. Perfect for testing product-market fit before scaling to enterprise deals.
  • Lending and lending-as-a-service platforms — CIBIL integration, loan origination APIs, and auto-debit setup make Decentro the default choice for lending platforms scaling underwriting and repayment collection.
  • Neobanking and account aggregation platforms — Account opening APIs with bank partnerships (ICICI, HDFC, YES) are Decentro's superpower. If you need to open 100K accounts/month, Decentro is faster and cheaper than building direct bank integrations.
  • Trading apps needing KYC at scale — Bank statement parsing and KYC verification APIs make Decentro ideal for stock trading, crypto, and investment apps that need rapid KYC onboarding.
  • Not for: Ultra-high-volume operations (100M+ API calls/year) — At this scale, per-call pricing becomes expensive ($500K+/year). Direct bank integrations or enterprise deals are cheaper.
  • Not for: Highly customized bank integrations — Decentro works best with its pre-built bank partnerships. If you need custom bank APIs, you'll need to negotiate directly with banks.

Integration Steps (3–5 Days)

  1. 1

    Get API credentials from Decentro dashboard

    Sign up on decentro.io, verify email, get API key and secret. Create API keys for sandbox (testing) and production (live). Decentro provides Postman collections for all APIs to test immediately.

  2. 2

    Integrate account opening or KYC API

    Choose your first API: Account Opening or KYC. Decentro SDKs are available in Node.js, Python, Java, and Go. Most integrations take 2 hours. Implement error handling for failed verifications (retry logic, user feedback).

  3. 3

    Test in sandbox with free credits

    Decentro gives ₹5,000–10,000 free credits for testing. Test all happy paths and error cases. Verify that eKYC flows work, that document uploads parse correctly, that accounts are created in the right bank partner system.

  4. 4

    Go live and start paying per transaction

    Switch API keys from sandbox to production. Configure webhooks for success/failure notifications. Start processing real users. You're charged per successful API call — failed verifications cost 50% of the standard rate.

  5. 5

    Monitor and scale with Decentro support

    Decentro provides API rate limits, request logs, and webhook delivery logs. If you exceed rate limits or need higher throughput, Decentro support will auto-scale or offer volume discounts.

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Pay-per-use pricing means zero fixed costs — perfect for early-stage startups
  • Fastest integration time — 3–5 days from signup to production account opening
  • Pre-built bank partnerships (ICICI, HDFC, YES) — no need to negotiate directly with banks
  • Complete KYC stack — Aadhaar, PAN, bank statement parsing all in one place
  • Free test credits — test without spending money
  • Strong API documentation and Postman collections
  • Reliable uptime (99.5%+ SLA)

Cons

  • Per-call pricing becomes expensive at scale (100M+ calls/year could cost ₹1cr+)
  • Dependent on Decentro's bank partnerships — limited choice of account types
  • No built-in analytics dashboard — you need to track API calls yourself
  • Limited to pre-defined APIs — custom bank workflows require negotiation
  • Support is email/chat, not 24/7 phone support (standard for startups)

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does Decentro cost?
Decentro uses pay-per-use pricing. Most APIs cost ₹2–50 per call depending on the API. Account opening: ₹10–15 per attempt. KYC verification: ₹5–10 per verification. UPI payments: ₹0.50–2 per transaction. You only pay for successful calls; failed calls may be charged at 50% rate. No setup fees, no monthly minimums. Volume discounts available above 100K calls/month.
How long does Decentro integration take?
Account opening integration typically takes 3–5 days: 1 day for API connectivity setup, 2–3 days for bank partner activation, 1 day for UAT testing. KYC-only integration can be done in 1–2 days. Full stack (account opening + lending + UPI) takes 1–2 weeks. Decentro provides free implementation support to speed up integration.
What happens if Decentro's API fails?
Decentro has 99.5%+ uptime SLA. If an API fails, you get a detailed error code and message. For account opening failures (rare), Decentro provides retry mechanisms and manual resolution support. UPI transaction failures are handled by NPCI — Decentro's SDKs include automatic retry logic. All API responses include idempotency keys to prevent duplicate transactions.
Can I use Decentro for multiple fintech products?
Yes. One Decentro API key can be used across multiple fintech products. You pay per API call across all products combined. Decentro dashboard shows usage across all products, and you can tag/categorize API calls by product for cost tracking. At scale, Decentro can help you set up separate accounts for different products if needed.

Get Free Test Credits

₹5,000–10,000 free credits. No credit card required.

Try Decentro →