RBI grants in-principle authorisation for 32 existing online payment aggregators

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on February 15 said it has granted in-principle authorisation for 32 existing payment aggregators to act as online payment aggregators. Earlier, the RBI had issued circulars dated March 17, 2020 and March 31, 2021 on guidelines on Regulation of Payment Aggregators and Payment Gateways.

Amazon (Pay) India Pvt Ltd, Google India Digital Services Pvt Ltd, Infibeam Avenues Ltd, Reliance Payment Solutions Ltd, Zomato Payments Pvt Ltd, among others have been granted in-principle authorisation.

Applications are under process for an additional 18 existing payment aggregators, the RBI said.

In terms of the guidelines, online non-bank Payment Aggregators (PAs)  existing as on March 17, 2020 were required to apply to RBI by September 30, 2021 for seeking authorisation under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (PSS Act). Further, another extension was allowed to all such PAs to submit their application by September 30, 2022.

The RBI said grant of ‘in-principle’ authorisation shall not be construed as authorisation unless the entity is granted ‘authorisation’ under Section 7 of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.

"For the purpose of ‘authorisation’, the entity shall have to submit to RBI a System Audit Report (SAR) along with certificate from a Chartered Accountant regarding compliance with the net worth requirement," the RBI said.

The entities must also have to comply with other requirements under the
Guidelines and fulfil additional conditions stipulated by RBI, the central bank said.

While existing PAs hat have applied for authorisation within the stipulated timelines can continue business unless advised otherwise by the central bank, new PAs cannot commence operations until they are granted ‘authorisation’ under Section 7 of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, the RBI said.

All stakeholders are advised to transact with only those existing PAs  who have been granted in-principle authorisation or  whose application is currently under process, the RBI added.

Further, stakeholders may transact with new PAs only after these entities have received ‘authorisation’2 under Section 7 of the PSS Act from the RBI, the central bank further noted.

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