IRCTC set to enter payments sector, eyes aggregator license from RBI

According to industry experts, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) can now apply with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a license as a payment aggregator, BusinessLine reported.

IRCTC recently 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 Railway PSU is all set to take entry into the payments sector and is thus eyeing a payment aggregator license.

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Currently, all Non-Bank Payment Aggregators require authorisation from RBI under Payment and Settlement System Act, 2007, and the Memorandum of Association (MoA) of the applicant entity must cover the proposed activity of operating as a payment aggregator.

The application process and approval from the RBI may take some time.

At present, IRCTC already has I-PAY, its in-house payment gateway. I-PAY enables payments for booking tickets of rail, bus and air travel, and tour packages on the IRCTC website and mobile app.

This means that IRCTC already has an established user base, which may be interested in using its payment gateway. Potential tie-ups with merchants can further expand scope for the raliway PSU. 

According to the IRCTC's annual general meeting notice, as a payment aggregator it will provide, promote, develop, design and carry on the business of all types of electronic and virtual payment systems services, payment gateway and aggregator services, prepaid and post-paid payment instruments, payment systems including open, closed, semi closed systems of payment instruments, in India and abroad.

The IRCTC gateway will also function as a bill payment gateway to provide bill payment services for utility bills, fees and municipal taxes under the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) guidelines.