“Keeping in view the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to ensure smooth functioning of the payments ecosystem, it has been decided that all such PAs (existing as on March 17, 2020) to apply for Allow one more window. reserve Bank of IndiaThe regulator said in a notification on Thursday.
The regulator said such entities can apply to the RBI by September 30, 2022 and should have a net worth of Rs 15 crore by March 31, 2022.
“They will be allowed to continue their operations till the communication is received from RBI about the fate of their application,” it added.
RBI had returned certain applications made by payment aggregators after they failed to comply with the minimum net worth norm of Rs 15 crore as on March 31, 2021. Due to which they had to close their operations within a period of six months from the date. The application has been returned.
The regulator said that though these companies had the option to apply afresh if they meet the prescribed criteria, the closure of operations could lead to disruption in the payment system. Also some payment aggregators failed to get licenses due to non-fulfilment of eligibility criteria. Keeping all these issues in mind, the regulator has asked to open another window for taking licences. However, it said the timeline for achieving net assets of Rs 25 crore remains unchanged.
The payment aggregator framework formally introduced in March 2020 mandates that only RBI approved firms can receive and offer payment services to merchants.
Firms authorized to act as payment aggregators in India will come under the direct purview of RBI while providing payment services to merchants. Over 185 fintech enterprises and startups submitted their proposals for payment aggregator licenses under the central bank’s strict evaluation process. So far, Razorpay, 1Pay, Innoviti and Stripe have been licensed.