8 Feb 2024
In January, Zomato, Tata Pay, and Stripe received the Payment Aggregator (PA) license.
Amidst the hue and cry surrounding Paytm Payments Bank getting barred, RBI granted PA licenses to startups like Zoho, Decentro, and Juspay. Zoho is an Enterprise Software-as-a-Service startup and the only such company to secure the permit. Decentro offers banking solutions via APIs and integration services to neo-banks, fintechs, and marketplaces. Juspay offers UPI, card, and wallet-based transactions.
Other fintech startups like PhonePe, Pine Labs, Infibeam, Easebuzz, and Enkash received in-principle approvals from the central bank. This means they get 18 months to comply with all regulatory conditions to obtain the final PA license.
Cashfree and Razorpay received their much-awaited licenses in December 2023. After having its application returned last year, PayU reapplied again, and its application is under process. Cred is also awaiting the nod.
PA license allows companies to become payment services providers to merchants of online and eCommerce businesses and accept various payment instruments from customers.