Paytm partners with Euronet after bill payment licence loss

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Paytm has partnered with Epay, the digital payment unit of US-based payment services firm Euronet Worldwide, to offer bill payment services through its application.

Earlier, the fintech firm was leveraging the licence of its associate entity Paytm Payment Bank Limited (PPBL) to offer the services.

However, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) diktat on January 31 prohibited the partner entity from carrying out any banking services like fund transfers, Bharat Bill Payment Operating Units (BBPOU) and UPI facility post February 29, 2024.

The deadline was later extended to March 15.

Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) is an RBI-mandated integrated bill payment platform that enables payment and collection of bills, including electricity, phone, DTH, water, gas insurance, loan repayments, FASTag recharge, education fees, credit card bill and municipal taxes, through multiple channels.

Banks and non-banks are able to offer these services via their apps after obtaining a licence to operate as a BBPOU from the RBI.

"Paytm in India ran into a regulatory issue that impacted its ability to onboard new customers and operate its stored value wallet. Epay leveraged its regulatory licenses, network connections and infrastructure to help Paytm resolve this issue in a timely fashion, thereby minimizing customer interruption," said Michael Brown, CEO at Euronet Worldwide during the firm's earning call to discuss the financial results.

"We are pleased that Paytm decided to expand our partnership to include prepaid mobile airtime, satellite TV recharges and bill payments in addition to Google Play credit. This was a terrific job done by the Epay team and reflects our commitment to helping a partner resolve a difficult situation by leveraging the extensive collection of assets that we've built over the last 20 years," he added.

The US-based firm has been in India for over a decade via its subsidiary-Euronet Services India-offering payment and transaction processing solutions to financial institutions, retailers, service providers and individual consumers.

These services include ATM, POS and card outsourcing services, card issuing and merchant acquiring services, software solutions, money transfer services, and electronic distribution of prepaid mobile phone time and other prepaid products.

The company had received its in-principle approval from RBI to operate as an operating unit under Bharat Bill Paymenat System (BBPS) back in 2016.