Payment aggregator licence may open avenues beyond rail-ticketing for IRCTC

Recently secured shareholder approval to approval RBI; has database of 100 mn users

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) can now apply for a payment aggregator licence to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and if approved, can enter the payments space with one of the country’s largest back-end databases of over 100 million users.
 

The ticket-booking arm of the Indian Railways secured an approval from the Registrar of Companies, NCT, Delhi, and Haryana to alter the Main Objects Clause of the Memorandum of Association and insert a new clause to act as a payment aggregator.
 

The decision was made at the recently concluded annual general meeting (AGM) of the company, upon the passage of a special resolution by the shareholders. IRCTC currently has an in-house payment gateway called I-PAY, which is the primary mode of transactions for ticket and package bookings through the IRCTC web and mobile application.
 

The process to apply for a licence RBI may also need the Ministry of Railways’ approval, which should be accorded swiftly, without any issues, sources said.
 

Under the Payment and System Settlement Act, the RBI must authorise non-bank payment aggregators for them to operate.

According to the RBI’s guidelines, payment aggregators must have a net worth of Rs 15 crore by March 2021 and a net worth of Rs 25 crore by March 2023. And, they have to maintain a net worth of Rs 25 crore at all times thereafter.
 

While the current I-PAY platform allows booking of tickets, the upgrade to a payment aggregator will allow the platform to be used for a host of other services such as payment services for utility bills, fees and municipal taxes under the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) guidelines.
 

IRCTC currently has a user base of 100 million users, with 80.2 million active users just in the last financial year, and 427 million ticket bookings over the same period.