The British fintech Revolut - the one half the Balkans has on their phone for payments abroad - is quietly opening the biggest market in the world. In India it launched a controlled beta with a few thousand users, the first step toward a waiting list of around 450,000 people who have already signed up.

The numbers behind the move explain why Revolut isn't rushing but building carefully. The app already has nearly 820,000 downloads in India, and the goal is clear: 150 million "digitally born" Indians aged 25 to 45. By 2030 the company wants 20 million users and processing of at least seven billion dollars.

Why India specifically? Because that's where the future of digital payments is being played out. In May alone, India's UPI system processed 23.2 billion transactions worth around 314 billion dollars - nearly half of all real-time payments on the planet. Whoever wins over the Indian user is essentially learning what banking will look like everywhere.

In the beta phase users get UPI payments, e-wallets, domestic and multi-currency cards. "We're in a controlled onboarding of people from the waiting list," the company said, adding that it's gathering feedback before opening to the wider public. The Indian branch is headed by Paroma Chatterjee, who has led it since 2021.

For the Balkan user the story has a familiar ring. While our banks still charge fees for things that take three seconds in an app, a London fintech is building a global network user by user. The question isn't whether players like this will reach us more seriously too - it's how long the local banks will keep pretending they have no competition.