US Payments Giant Stripe Goes Invite-Only In India

SUMMARY

Without offering any clarity on the move, Stripe said that it was working to build its infrastructure to support more users by the second half of 2025

Citing the evolving regulatory landscape in India, Stripe also said that it was not able to currently “promise” easy onboarding for all new users in the country

Earlier this month, a report said that the US-based fintech major was looking to acquire a significant stake in the State Bank of India's payments arm, SBI Payments. But Stripe rejected the report

Global digital payments platform Stripe has temporarily gone invite-only in India. In a blog post, the company said that it has made the “tough decision” to temporarily offer its services by invite only in India.

Without offering any clarity on the move, Stripe said that it was working to build its infrastructure to support more users by the second half of 2025.

“We’ve made the tough decision to temporarily offer our services by invite only in India. This means that businesses from India will not be able to sign up for a new Stripe account through our website, and will instead need to request an invite. We will only be able to support a select number of businesses, with a focus on international expansion, for the time being,” said the company.

Citing the evolving regulatory landscape in India, Stripe also said that it could not currently “promise” easy onboarding for all new users in the country. However, the fintech platform added that it was strongly committed to India and building its infrastructure in the country.

The digital payments giant has also informed its Indian applicants about the invite-only move. In an email sent to one of its users and accessed by Inc42, Stripe said, “As a result of this change, your Stripe account for [name of the user] will not be activated at this time. We know this is disappointing, and we’re working to be ready to support you soon”.

Stripe has been present in India since 2016.

The latest development comes more than a week after a report claimed that the US-based fintech major was looking to acquire a significant stake in the State Bank of India’s payments arm, SBI Payments.

At the time, it was reported that Stripe was keen on acquiring a 30%-40% stake in the JV that operates SBI Payments. While SBI holds 74% stake in the JV, Hitachi Payments owns the rest.

However, Stripe rejected the report and called it a rumour.

In January this year, Stripe’s Indian subsidiary, Stripe India Private Limited, also received the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) nod to act as a payment aggregator.

Founded in 2010, Stripe is a full-stack fintech platform that offers a suite of billing, tax and other tools. Last year, it secured $6.5 Bn in a round from GIC, Goldman Sachs, Temasek, among others at a $50 Bn valuation.