MUMBAI, October 18 — The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) granted full regulatory authorisations on Sunday to four premier fintech institutions to operate as online Payment Aggregators (PA) and Payment Aggregators-Cross Border (PA-CB) under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2007.
The regulatory clearance permits licensed entities to deliver integrated payment gateway and inward-outward merchant collection services for Indian exporters, small enterprises, and digital services freelancers without routing funds through non-compliant offshore intermediary accounts. Licensees are legally bound to uphold a minimum net worth of ₹25 Crore and implement strict AML/CFT monitoring alongside RBI-mandated customer due diligence.
The central bank highlighted that direct domestic licensing for cross-border aggregators will lower international transaction settlement fees by up to 30%, streamline invoice reconciliation for MSME goods and software exports, and reinforce the ambitious $2 Trillion outbound export target outlined under the Foreign Trade Policy 2023.
Statutory provisions governing payment systems under Sections 4 and 7 of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2007, FEMA regulations governing merchant inward remittances, current account convertibility, and RBI's regulatory sandbox framework are essential study components for RBI Grade B, SEBI Grade A, and UPSC Civil Services GS-III.