US Payments Giant Stripe In Talks To Acquire Stake In SBI Payments Investment: Report

Global digital payments startup Stripe is reportedly looking to acquire a significant stake State Bank of India’s (SBI) payments subsidiary, SBI Payments Limited, through a partnership.

The US fintech giant is seeking to enter a joint venture with State Bank of India, aiming to acquire a significant stake in SBI Payments Ltd, according to a Hindu Business Line report.

Currently, SBI Payments is a joint venture between State Bank of India and Hitachi Payments Services Private Limited, with SBI holding a 74% stake and the remaining held by Hitachi. Stripe is keen on acquiring a 30%-40% stake held by SBI.

The deal is anticipated to be carried out through Stripe’s Indian subsidiary, Stripe India Private Limited, which obtained an RBI license to operate as an online payment aggregator in January 2024. 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.

While discussions are ongoing with the Reserve Bank of India regarding the same, the report claims that the regulator has provided feedback to the global payments major on certain matters related to risk management and data protection.

Moreover, Stripe is said to be addressing these aspects and will approach the regulator soon to secure approval for the investment in SBI Payments.

However, taking to X, TechCrunch’s senior reporter Manish Singh said, “This rumour is completely fabricated.”

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.

Globally, Stripe is one of the largest entities in the payments infrastructure sector, known for its strong presence in merchant acquisitions. Partnering with SBI would provide Stripe with the scale needed to make a dent in the payments market in India, which has a host of players.

Just this year, more than 20 startups have received approvals from the RBI to set up their payments aggregator operations.

Since December last year, the RBI has approved the PA applications or has given in-principle approval to Zoho, Juspay, Decentro, CRED, PayU, Enkash, Pine Labs, Amazon Pay, Innoviti, Razorpay, CC Avenue, Cashfree, Tata Pay, Google Pay, Infibeam Avenues, Mswipe, among others.