BharatPe Gets Nod for ePayment Aggregator Licence

January 11, 2023

Fintech unicorn BharatPe recently announced that it has received in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as a Payment Aggregator. The approval was granted to the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Resilient Innovations Private Ltd. This comes as a relief for BharatPe, which has been facing controversies and high-profile exits since last year, including a court battle with its former co-founder.

Payment Aggregator Framework

Payment aggregators are entities that facilitate e-commerce sites and merchants to accept various payment instruments from customers. They do not require merchants to create a separate payment integration system of their own. The RBI had issued a Payment Aggregator Framework, mandating payment gateways to obtain a license for acquiring merchants and providing them with digital payment acceptance solutions. This in-principle approval will help BharatPe to expand its reach and provide digital payment acceptance solutions to millions of merchants.

Fintech Firms Approval

Several fintech firms like Razorpay, Pine Labs, Open, Cashfree, and 1Pay have already received approval from the RBI for a Payment Aggregator license in recent months. Over 185 fintech enterprises and startups submitted their proposals for a Payment Aggregator licence.

Conditions for Final Authorization

The final authorization for BharatPe is subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions, which the company will work to fulfill within the given timelines. BharatPe, which was founded in 2018, began by launching the first interoperable UPI code. It serves more than 1 crore merchants across 400+ cities.

BharatPe’s Current Situation

The company’s board is currently searching for a new CEO to replace Suhail Sameer, who resigned from his position. Nalin Negi, the company’s Chief financial officer, has been appointed as the interim CEO. He has previously worked with GE Capital and SBI Card. This in-principal approval for Payment Aggregator license, is a vital step for BharatPe to continue its operations and provide digital payment acceptance solutions.

The in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India for BharatPe to operate as a Payment Aggregator is a significant milestone for the fintech unicorn, which has been facing controversies and high-profile exits in recent times. The Payment Aggregator framework established by the RBI is aimed to ease the process of digital payment acceptance solutions for merchants and BharatPe’s subsidiary Resilient Innovations Private Ltd is one of the several fintech firms that have received the approval. The final authorization is subject to certain conditions and the company is moving forward to fulfill them within the given timelines.

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