Groww's UPI arm secures payment aggregator license from RBI

Groww Pay, the UPI payments arm of stock brokering platform Groww, has received a payment aggregator (PA) license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday.

The PA license allows fintech companies to open direct payment channels to merchants, reducing overhead costs and gaining more control over payment flows.

With this license, Groww can now facilitate ecommerce transactions on its platform through its UPI app, Groww Pay, launched last year.

The company already holds a third-party payments app license from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and has been providing payment services via Yes Bank's banking network.

Since January 2024, the central bank has provided the PA license to over 20 companies, including Groww Pay, which marks a significant increase, more than double the total number of PA licenses the RBI issued in 2023. Among the recipients are Amazon Pay, Zomato, and most recently, payments facilitator, PayU.

Notably, RBI has introduced new regulations for offline PAs to enhance oversight and safety in face-to-face transactions. These norms, outlined in two consultation papers, aim to extend existing guidelines for online PAs to offline spaces, ensuring consistency and convergence in data collection and storage standards.