1Pay gets in-principle approval for payment aggregator licence

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given in-principle approval to fintech startup 1Pay Mobileware Pvt Ltd to operate as a payment aggregator (PA).

"With this, 1Pay becomes one of the first companies in India to get approval from RBI for the payment aggregator licence," according to a statement from 1Pay.

Founded in 2019, 1Pay brings transportation, logistics and the banking industry together, digitally unifying the logi-fintech space. "Currently, the platform has an annualised gross transaction value (GTV) of Rs 8,500 crore+ and an annualised transaction volume of over 30 million." The startup offers payment solutions for logistics, and to OEM suppliers, OMC/fuel distributors and FASTag issuers.

1Pay is backed by ex-Goldman Sachs MD Sanjiv Shah and Sanjay Gaitonde. "1Pay is creating a seamless payments platform for the unorganised sector that empowers them to accept and make digital payment," says Gaitonde. "1Pay is one of the few platforms focusing on digitally unifying the unorganised logi-fintech space. RBI's approval for a startup in the fintech space demonstrates the central bank's commitment to digitally unifying the country."

Oomkar Kulkarnie, Head - Product & Technology, 1Pay adds: "With this we get seamless payment processing and settlement capability. Also the time required for onboarding the merchants is generally higher. With this licence, we will be empowered to reach out to maximum base and provide a payment processing solution."

1Pay continues to be boot-strapped "driven by innovation, disruption, and the opportunity to learn," Kulkarnie had told ITLN in an earlier interaction.

The PA framework, introduced formally in March 2020, mandates that only firms approved by RBI can acquire and offer payment services to merchants.