BharatPe Receives In-Principle Nod From RBI To Operate As A Payment Aggregator

BharatPe Group has received an in-principle authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as an online payment aggregator.

In a statement, the company said that the in-principle approval has been awarded to Resilient Payments Private Ltd, a 100% owned subsidiary of Resilient Innovations Private Ltd (BharatPe).

The final authorisation is subject to fulfilment of certain conditions. BharatPe will now start to work on fulfilling the said conditions within the prescribed timeline and launch the online payment aggregator business upon the receipt of the final authorisation from RBI, it added.

Speaking on the central bank’s nod, Nalin Negi, CFO and interim CEO of BharatPe, said that it would catapult BharatPe’s expansion plans and enable it to reach out to millions of more unbanked and underserved merchants to provide digital payment acceptance solutions.

“At BharatPe, we have been committed to empowering offline merchants and kirana store owners in the country and have already built a network of 1 Cr merchants across 400+ cities,” Negi added.

With this, BharatPe has joined the list of fintech startups like Infibeam Avenues, Razorpay, Mswipe, Open, and Pine Labs that have also received the green signal for a payment aggregator licence. As per reports, close to 185 fintech firms have applied for the licence.

The payment aggregator framework was launched by the RBI in March 2020. Under the norms, all payment gateway operators need to obtain a licence to acquire merchants and deploy digital payments solutions.

Last year, the RBI said that the online payment aggregator guidelines will be extended to offline players as well.

The latest development comes at a time when BharatPe has been involved in controversies for over the last year or so. The fintech startup is looking at a leadership crisis following exit of its former cofounder and MD Ashneer Grover over allegations of financial misappropriation. Last week, Suhail Sameer also stepped down from the role of CEO at the startup.

Besides, BharatPe is also involved in a legal battle with Grover, his wife, and other family members.

Meanwhile, the digital payments gateway industry has grown manifold in India over the last few years. According to a report, the Indian payment gateways market was pegged at $1.2 Bn in 2021 and is projected to grow to $2.68 Bn by 2027.