Cannot deserialize instance of `java.util.ArrayList` out of START_OBJECT token at [Source: (BufferedInputStream); line: 1, column: 1]

Question

I have tried to read external json file and write to Database. I am getting the error below "not able to deseriliaze" while reading the json file using objectmapper.

Caused by: com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.exc.MismatchedInputException: Cannot deserialize instance of `java.util.ArrayList<com.vir.in.model.SmartPay>` out of START_OBJECT token at [Source: (BufferedInputStream); line: 1, column: 1]

Json file

{
    "header":{
        "requestRefNo":"1234ERT",
        "totalPDPICount":"2"
      },
    "files":[
              {object},
              {object}
            ]
}

Code:

@Bean
CommandLineRunner runner(SmartPayService service) throws IOException {
    return args->{
                //read json and write to DB
                ObjectMapper mapper=new ObjectMapper();
                TypeReference<List<SmartPay>> typeReference=new TypeReference<List<SmartPay>>() {}; 
                InputStream inputStream=typeReference.getClass().getResourceAsStream("/json/trades.json");
                List<SmartPay> s=mapper.readValue(inputStream, typeReference);
                service.save(s);
                System.out.println("Saved !");
            };
        }
    }

service

@Autowired
private JsonRepository repo;
        
public Iterable<SmartPay> save(List<SmartPay> smartPay) {
    return repo.saveAll(smartPay);
}