The applications from four existing payment aggregators—Freecharge, Paytm Payments Services, PayU, and Tapits Technologies—have been rejected by the RBI, but they have 120 days to reapply. These four companies can continue operating as payment aggregators but cannot onboard new merchants.
Payment aggregators are third parties who enable merchants to offer a variety of payment options to their customers.
The RBI stated that it had rejected the applications for licences from 17 existing payment aggregators and another 40 new applicants when it released a list of the applications for payment aggregator licences on Wednesday.
Payment aggregators were previously considered service providers that weren’t a part of the financial system and were not granted an RBI licence. All entities offering payment aggregator services were requested to apply for a licence by the RBI in March 2021.
IRCTC, Ola Financial Services, and Worldline India are among the companies whose applications were rejected. Worldline, an existing payment aggregator, withdrew its application. Other companies have just entered this segment.
Any rejected entities currently operating as payment aggregators must shut down operations and close their escrow account within 180 days.
