Cashfree Gets RBI’s Prepaid Payment Instrument Licence

A few months after securing the payment aggregator cross border (PA-CB) licence, Bengaluru-based fintech startup Cashfree Payments has now received the Reserve Bank of India’s prepaid payment instrument (PPI) licence to facilitate purchase and fund transfer against a preloaded value.

PPI licences enable entities to issue prepaid payment instruments like cards or digital wallets that allow users to purchase goods and services, enable remittance facilities, conduct financial transactions and transfer funds to family and friends. 

Based on its diverse functioning, there are three types of PPIs namely closed System PPIs, semi-closed System PPIs and Open System PPIs. 

With this, Cashfree Payments claimed that it has become one of the first fintechs to receive the payment aggregator (PA), payment aggregator-cross-border (PA-CB), and prepaid payment instrument (PPI) licences from the RBI.

Cashfree Payments’ CEO & cofounder Akash Sinha, said “The PPI licence opens up a new field of opportunity for innovation in the payments landscape. Our focus has always been to provide secure, flexible and efficient payment experiences to Indian businesses as well as their customers. The PPI (Prepaid Payment Instrument) licence will help us build offerings that let internet businesses retain and grow their user base.”

Besides Cashfree, several other fintechs in the likes of Razorpay, Pine Labs, Innoviti, Easebuzz, Stripe, and MSwipe have received the PPI licence from RBI in recent times. 

In July,  Cashfree receives RBI’s payment aggregator-cross border licence for imports and exports. Previously in December last year, Cashfree Payments secured the RBI payment aggregator licence.

Founded in 2015 by Akash Sinha and Reeju Datta, Cashfree operates a full-stack digital payments solution platform. It claims that over 6,00,000 businesses use its service to process transactions worth more than $ 80 Bn annually. 

The company is doubling down on product diversification and geographical expansion. 

Lately, it has introduced products like Secure ID for onboarding KYC, FlowWise for payment orchestration, Risk Shield for fraud monitoring and more. Last year, it partnered with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to launch ‘AutoPay on QR’ for subscription-based enterprises. 

It is also expanding its presence in the UAE region through its acquired partner, Telr. 

On the financial front, its net loss widened 46X to INR 133.1 Cr in FY23 from INR 2.9 Cr in the previous year. Operating revenue increased 75.4% to INR 613.8 Cr from INR 349.9 Cr in FY22.