Payment Infrastructure Consulting for Banks | CARD91

CONSULTING

Design Regulated Payment Programs Right From Day One

Payment programs don’t fail because technology is missing — they fail because early product, regulatory, and infrastructure decisions are misaligned.

CARD91 provides execution-informed advisory to banks, fintechs, NBFCs, and enterprises—helping teams validate design, ownership, and readiness before capital, infrastructure, and regulatory risk are locked in.

Consulting Approach

Two Decision Tracks Where Regulated Payment Programs Succeed — or Fail

Most payment programs break before the first transaction is processed — when product decisions and infrastructure realities are designed in isolation.

CARD91 separates and aligns these two tracks to prevent failure at launch, scale, and audit.

Business & Product Consulting

This track governs

• Product construct and operating model clarity
• Regulatory ownership, accountability, and sponsor alignment
• Ecosystem roles across rails, issuers, sponsors, and partners
• Unit economics, pricing logic, and defined risk boundaries
• Launch, scale, and audit readiness

Unclear ownership and misaligned economics are the number-one reason regulated programs stall or get escalated post-launch. Advisory grounded in RBI and NPCI operating frameworks — not hypothetical models.

Technology & Infrastructure Consulting

This track governs

• Core payment architecture and system boundaries
• Infrastructure and deployment strategy (cloud, on-prem, hybrid)
• Security, data localisation, and compliance architecture
• Resilience, DR, incident readiness, and uptime governance
• Operational visibility and regulatory reporting

Infrastructure decisions made without production context surface as failures during audits, incidents, and scale events. Advisory informed by real production infrastructure ownership — not post-fact reviews.

Advisory Leadership

Subject-Matter Experts in Regulated Payment Programs

CARD91’s advisory teams bring 100+ years of collective experience across regulated payment programs. Supported by strong academic foundations, including IIT Kanpur, our advisors work one-on-one with leadership teams to validate critical decisions—ensuring programs are structured to launch cleanly, scale responsibly, and remain audit-ready.

Leadership Cards

Ajay Pandey
Founder of CARD91 with 25+ years of experience in building and scaling payment and fintech businesses.

A.G. Ramakrishna
25+ years across banking and fintech, leading product strategy and ecosystem partnerships.

Navneet Kumar
25+ years of experience building scalable banking and payments technology platforms.

Puneet Mathur
25+ years in enterprise architecture, integrations, and large-scale banking systems.

Consulting Coverage

How We De-Risk Payment Programs Before Build

Before infrastructure is committed and regulatory exposure increases, CARD91 intervenes at the decision layer—where payment programs either become scalable and compliant, or fragile and high-risk.

Market Assessment

Validate demand signals, product-market fit, and commercial feasibility within India’s regulated payments ecosystem—before committing capital or partners.

Regulatory Readiness

Clarify regulatory pathways, compliance obligations, and ownership responsibilities across issuing, sponsoring, and operating entities.

Partner Ecosystem Development

Structure issuer, sponsor, network, and service-provider roles with clear accountability, governance models, and risk boundaries.

Go-To-Market Alignment

Align launch sequencing, commercial constructs, and readiness milestones with regulatory, operational, and ecosystem constraints.

Operationalisation Planning

Define operating models, workflows, approval paths, and escalation structures required for day-one and day-two readiness.

Technical Enablement Guidance

Advise on infrastructure approach, integration sequencing, and execution guardrails—without premature build or vendor lock-in.

Get Clarity Before You Commit

Connect one-on-one with CARD91’s advisory team to validate critical payment decisions — before regulatory, financial, or execution risk compounds.

Legal & Confidentiality Disclaimer

Submission of an inquiry through this website does not create a client, advisory, fiduciary, or contractual relationship. Any such relationship shall arise only upon execution of a formal written agreement. Confidential information shared during consultations will be handled in accordance with applicable confidentiality agreements.