Shares of Pine Labs came under pressure on Thursday, September 24, after the fintech company announced plans to deploy 10 lakh Soundboxes across India. 

The stock fell as much as 4.16% on the NSE as investors assessed the investment required for the large-scale rollout and its potential impact on future growth.

Pine Labs said the deployment is aimed at strengthening India’s digital payments infrastructure and expanding the reach of UPI beyond everyday low-value transactions. The company expects the wider Soundbox network to help increase digital payment adoption across new markets and merchant segments.

The devices will use a cloud-first architecture and provide merchants with real-time audio confirmation whenever a payment is received. Soundboxes have become increasingly common among small retailers and other offline merchants, allowing them to instantly verify UPI transactions without checking their smartphones.

The planned rollout comes as competition in the soundbox market continues to increase. Payment companies such as PhonePe, BharatPe and Paytm currently provide soundboxes linked to their respective payment ecosystems. 

NPCI is also working on an interoperable soundbox infrastructure that could allow merchants to receive payment confirmations from different UPI applications through a single device.

Pine Labs CEO B Amrish Rau said the company wants to invest back into the payments ecosystem as new monetisation opportunities emerge. The company believes the Soundbox expansion can support the next phase of India’s digital commerce growth.

The announcement comes as Pine Labs continues to expand its payments technology portfolio. In June, the company launched its Pine Labs Payment Protocol, or P3P, which enables AI agents to complete UPI payments under authorised mandates without requiring human authentication for every transaction.

Pine Labs shares were trading around Rs 179.79 at 1:43 pm on Thursday, down 4.52%.

Discover the next big investment! Tradz by EquityPandits’ IPO screener helps you identify promising initial public offerings. Download Tradz by EquityPandit and get ahead of the curve! Sign Up Now & Find Your Next IPO Gem!