Infibeam Avenues gets RBI's authorisation for payment aggregator licence

The company said that after receiving the in-principle approval from the RBI to operate as a payment aggregator in October 2022, the company received the final authorisation on March 4

India's first listed AI-powered fintech company, Infibeam Avenues, on Tuesday received the final authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as a payment aggregator for its payment gateway brand, CCAvenue.

The company announced in a press release that it received final authorisation from the RBI on March 4 to operate as a payment aggregator (PA), following the in-principle approval granted in October 2022.

In March 2020, the RBI introduced the PA framework, which necessitates payment gateways to secure an aggregator licence for acquiring merchants and delivering digital payment acceptance solutions.

Vishwas Patel, joint managing director of Infibeam Avenues Ltd, said the company is grateful to the RBI for granting the PA licence. "It's a testimony of our unwavering commitment to maintaining ever-evolving regulatory standards, and it highlights the significance of our role in advancing the digital payments industry over the last 24 years. The industry already recognises CCAvenue, our flagship payment gateway brand, as the gold standard payments platform, thanks to our rigorous compliance standards for onboarding Indian merchants as well as processing transactions securely at scale," he said.

"The final payment aggregator licence granted by the RBI is a monumental boost for our payment business. And with this licence, we will allow us to continue the seamless and secure digital payment growth and increase financial inclusivity for the masses," Patel added.

More than 10 million merchants are on Infibeam's platform, and this year, the company has already crossed half a million merchants onboarding in 1H FY24, according to the release. The company attributed this growth to the growing relationship with the bank partners and merchants.

Vishal Mehta, chairman and managing director of Infibeam Avenues, said that they are thrilled and thankful to receive the final approval from the RBI. "This PA license along with the BBPOU license is a testament to our commitment to innovation and excellence. We have successfully captured significant market share in the payment gateway and the Bill Payments space, and we are now poised for even greater expansion in the coming months and will now gear up for accelerated market share growth," he said.

The company had earlier launched the CCAvenue mobile app, which features India's first pin-on-glass SoftPoS solution – CCAvenue TapPay for Merchants and Kiranas across the country.