All non-bank payment aggregators will have to apply for fresh licences.
The Reserve Bank of India has introduced a new set of application criteria and operational guidelines to strengthen the governance and functioning of these entities and bring them under its direct supervision.
These entities, including fintech startups such as PayU, Instamojo, Paytm, CCAvenue, Razorpay and BillDesk, accept and facilitate online transactions.
The guideline details governance, shareholding, technology, security and operational requirements all payment aggregators and gateways need to comply with.
“Based on the feedback received and taking into account the important functions of these intermediaries in the online payments space as also keeping in view their role vis-à-vis handling funds, it has been decided to (a) regulate in entirety the activities of PAs…” the central bank said in a notification issued on Tuesday.
These companies would now be subject to more audits as well.
Moreover, existing companies with net worth less than Rs 15 crore will get one year to continue operations. New entities over Rs 15 crore that secure authorisation have also been told to attain a net worth of Rs 25 crore by the end of third financial year.
Under the new guidelines that kick in from the new financial year, payment aggregators will also be responsible to check payment security and data infrastructure of the merchants that are on-boarded on to their platforms.
“We welcome the guidelines to regulate Payment Aggregators issued by the RBI,” said Vishwas Patel, chairman of Payment Council of India. “The net worth requirements are also reduced (from the original draft) and adequate time provided of one year to comply with the requirement for existing entities.”
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