Airpay Bags Cross Border Payment Aggregator Licence From RBI

Fintech startup airpay Payment Services has become the latest entity to secure the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) cross-border payment aggregator (PA-CB). 

With the regulatory approval that enables it to facilitate digital payments for Indian merchants domestically and globally, Airpay is expecting a 30-40% increase in transaction processing volumes (TPV) over the next 6-12 months. In this, it expects cross-border payments to contribute more than 20% of its overall revenue moving forward.

The fintech startup also expects to onboard over 50,000 new merchants moving forward. 

“RBI’s approval strengthens our ability to provide Indian businesses a regulated yet seamless bridge to make or collect payments from Mumbai, Manipur or to Madrid,” Airpay’s founder Kunal Jhunjhunwala said.

Founded in 2012, Airpay is an omnichannel financial services platform and payment gateway startup that helps businesses accept and make payments across online, in-store (PoS), and mobile channels. Its solutions stack also includes automated reconciliation, tax management and embedded finance offerings.

The startup primarily focusses on SME and MSME businesses operating in sectors like education, hospitality, retail and BFS. While its clientele primarily resides in India, the Mumbai-based startup is mulling to expand to new markets including Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.

Within the booming Indian digital payments space, Airpay competes with the likes of Razorpay, Paytm and BillDesk. In terms of capital, the startup has raised a mere $3.6 Mn in its lone Serie A round from VC firm Kalaari Capital.

Airpay’s PA-CB nod comes in line with the RBI’s spree of similar regulatory approvals. Most recently, fintech major Razorpay recently bagged Payment Aggregator-Cross Border (PA-CB) licence from RBI, allowing it to facilitate both inward and outward cross-border payments internationally. Last month, PayU also got the central bank’s approval to operate as a payment aggregator across online, offline, and cross-border transactions.

The regulatory developments come at a time when the UPI regulator NPCI is also pushing international partnerships to expand UPI’s reach. For instance, US-based payment aggregator PayPal partnered with the international arm NPCI, among others, to build a global digital payment platform called PayPal World. Last month, RBI also announced that UPI is now set to enter Europe.