This Fintech Turns MFs Into Wallets. But Are You Ready?

Curie Money links mutual funds to UPI for instant payments, nudging users beyond banks

- Neil Borate & Anil Poste

Imagine paying your neighbourhood store, auto driver, domestic help using money parked not in a bank savings account, but in a mutual fund. Thanks to fintechs integrating mutual funds with UPI, this is now possible—offering not just convenience but significantly better returns. While bank savings accounts now yield as little as 2.7-2.75%, liquid mutual funds offer returns of 5-6%. That means your idle cash doesn't just sit—it grows, even as it remains instantly spendable. In a low-interest environment, this could make mutual funds a compelling alternative to traditional bank deposits.

What Curie Money is building At the centre of this new experiment is Curie Money, a fintech startup that aims to blur the lines between your investment account and your payments app. Curie lets users make UPI payments that are instantly debited from their liquid mutual fund units—essentially turning your investments into a real-time, spendable wallet.

The idea builds on a facility the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has allowed since 2017: instant redemptions of up to ₹50,000 or 90% of the investment (whichever is lower) from liquid and overnight funds.

But unlike asset management companies (AMCs) that offer this with a separate redemption request, Curie links it directly to UPI payments. Scan a QR code, approve the payment, and the redemption request is auto-triggered in the background. It's UPI as usual, except you get emails and SMS alerts from the AMC about units redeemed.