Zomato and Stripe Receive RBI Approval for Online Payment Aggregator

Zomato, a food-delivery platform and Stripe, an international financial infrastructure provider, have both secured final approval from the regulator to operate as online payment aggregators.

Zomato obtained approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on January 24, while Stripe received the green light on January 15.

The recent approvals bring the total number of entities granted the regulator's final authorization to operate as online aggregators in the country to 11.

In December of the previous year, the RBI granted final approval to payment gateways Razorpay and Cashfree to function as payment aggregators. This clearance allowed them to onboard new merchants, marking the end of a year-long embargo.

During a similar timeframe, Google Pay, the prominent player in payments, along with expense management platform Enkash and neo-banking startup Open Financial, also obtained approval from the regulator.

In a BSE filing on Thursday, Zomato announced that its subsidiary, Zomato Payments Pvt Ltd has received approval from the RBI to function as a payment aggregator.

As per an informed source, the Gurugram-based company has no intention of entering the fintech sector as an independent entity. Instead, it is obtaining financial services licenses to enhance its offerings within its own ecosystem.

"Internally, the company has been deliberating on leveraging its payment processing infrastructure across various apps catering to both consumers and merchants, including services such as food delivery, dining out, Blinkit, Hyperpure, and more," stated the individual.

In 2022, Zomato established a non-banking financial company (NBFC) and submitted an application for a license to provide lending products specifically designed for its restaurant partners.

In that same year, Zomato introduced Zomato Pay as the third version of its dining out program, enabling customers to make payments and access discounts at partner restaurants through the Zomato app.

The central bank has been implementing thorough checks at various levels to ensure the careful selection of companies for the ultimate approval to function as a payment aggregator.

The RBI had additionally prohibited other payment gateways, including Paytm and PayU, from bringing onboard new merchants. Both entities were instructed to submit their applications again.