Amazon Pay gets payment aggregator licence from RBI

Amazon Pay, the financial technology branch of Amazon, was granted a Payment Aggregator (PA) licence by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on February 20, 2024. The approval enables it to conduct business as a payment aggregator and facilitate ecommerce transactions through its app.

Payment aggregators act as intermediaries between businesses and customers, consolidating and processing online transactions through a single integration. They simplify the payment process for businesses by offering various payment options like credit cards, digital wallets, and bank transfers.

“We are excited and thankful to receive the final authorization from the Reserve Bank of India to function as a Payment Aggregator. We remain committed to simplify lives and fulfill aspirations of merchants and customers. This allows us to further strengthen our distribution channels and deliver innovative solutions for our merchants and customers across India providing them with secure, convenient, and rewarding digital payment experiences," an Amazon Pay Spokesperson said in a statement.

As per the RBI website, the ecommerce giant already has a prepaid payment instrument for its Amazon Pay balance: Money gift cards and vouchers.

Since the start of 2024, RBI has approved 10 licences to startups like food delivery giant Zomato, Y-Combinator-backed Decentro, BHIM UPI creator Juspay, and others.

Incorporated in August 2021 Zomato Payments Private Limited was the latest company to receive the Payment Aggregator Licence. It went live as a third-party application provider in May last year with the help of ICICI bank, which manages the merchant and peer-to-peer payments.

Zomato had opted for an in-house Unified Payments Interface facility so that its customers who often pay through UPI wouldn't need to switch apps. It would also help the foodtech unicorn save on commisions and fees paid to other payment aggregators.