National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella organisation for all retail payments systems in the country, has increased its shareholding base to 56 banks from 10 banks earlier. The 46 new shareholder banks in the NPCI include 13 public sector banks, 15 private sector banks, one foreign bank, 10 multi-state co-operative banks and seven regional rural banks. State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India and Union Bank of India (public sector banks); ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank (private sector banks); and Citibank and HSBC (foreign banks) were the 10 initial promoters of NPCI. NPCI Managing Director and CEO AP Hota said: "Being the payments system utility for all the banks in the country, it was a natural progression and was also a requirement from the Reserve Bank of India. The expansion will make NPCI a truly community-owned institution. "The 46 new shareholders have collectively infused ₹119 crore into NPCI. We will utilise the proceeds to upgrade our systems, build a technology reserve (to build resilience to deal with unforeseen events), etc." The aim of the Corporation is to create an infrastructure of large dimension and operate on high volumes resulting in payment services at a fraction of the present cost structure.