Companies crowd up RBI for payment aggregator license

• Follow

In order to become licensed Payment Aggregators (PAs), under the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) upcoming regulatory regime for non-bank payment providers, a slew of companies with fintech ambitions are queuing up the central bank’s door to get its approval.

The Economic Times reported that atleast 30 firms are learnt to have submitted their proposals, and the number of applicants could increase before the September 30 deadline for existing and new non bank firms to apply. Among those who have applied for the authorisation or in the advanced stages of submitting their proposals include Tata Group, Amazon, Reliance Industries, Paytm, BharatPe, PhonePe, Razorpay, Cred, Zomato, PayU, Pine Labs and CAMSPAY.

Payments ecosystems to be more standardised

Once the firms get the authorisation to operate as PAs in India, they would be under the direct purview of the RBI in rendering payment services to merchants, a step that would lead to a more standardised and regulated payments ecosystem, the publication said.

Also, there is feeling that any internet firm with a mass consumer base will be applying for a PA license as the eligibility barrier is low and missing out on an approval can limit any future expansion in offering fintech services, it added.

As per RBI rules, the eligibility criteria for a firm applying for a PA authorisation should have a minimum networth of Rs 15 crores in the first year of application and should go up to Rs 25 crore by the second year.

The firm must also fulfill the ‘fit and proper’ criteria as well as be compliant with global payment security standards under PCI DSS, an information security protocol maintained by firms across the world.