Stripe Gets Final RBI Nod For Payment Aggregator Business

Global digital payments startup Stripe’s Indian arm has got final approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as an online payment aggregator.

Stripe India Private Limited got the go-ahead on January 15.

Founded in 2010, San-Francisco-based Stripe grew from a single tool, code for developers to enable credit card payments on their site, to a large suite of billing, tax and other fintech tools.

Last year, it raised $6.5 Bn funding at a $50 Bn valuation from GIC, Goldman Sachs Asset and Wealth Management and Temasek, among others.

As per the latest RBI data, 11 companies, in total, have received final approval from the RBI to operate as online PAs.

Introduced by the RBI in March 2020, the payment aggregator framework requires all payment gateway operators to obtain a license for acquiring merchants and implementing digital payment solutions.

Payment aggregators (PAs) facilitate merchants and ecommerce platforms in accepting payments by providing their technological infrastructure for streamlined online transactions. However, the licensing process, initiated three years ago, became a challenging procedure for many payment solution providers.

Meanwhile, foodtech major Zomato also got the final approval from the RBI to operate as a payment aggregator.

In an exchange filing on Thursday (January 25), Zomato said, “…we wish to inform that ZPPL (Zomato Payments Private Limited) has been granted certificate of authorisation dated January 24, 2024, from the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) to operate as an ‘Online Payment Aggregator’ in India.”

In 2021, the foodtech major announced the incorporation of ZPPL, a wholly owned subsidiary, to carry out the business as payment aggregator and issuer of pre-paid payment instruments.

Earlier this month, Tata Payments, and Groww-backed identity verification startup, DigiO received payment aggregator (PA) licences from RBI.