RBI releases new guidelines for payment aggregators

News:The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released guidelines for regulating activities of Payment Aggregators(PAs) and Payment Gateways(PGs) in the country.

Facts:

About:Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has defined Payment Gateways and Payment Aggregators as those entities who:

• provide technology infrastructure to route and / or facilitate processing of an online payment transaction and perform other functions without actually handling the funds.
• facilitate e-commerce sites and merchants to accept various payment instruments from the customers for completion of their payment without the need for merchants to create a separate payment system of their own.

Key Guidelines:

• Payment Aggregators(PA) should have a minimum net worth of ₹15 crore at the time of application for authorisation and ₹25 crore has to be maintained at all times thereafter.
• Non-bank PAs will require authorisation from the RBI under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (PSSA).They should be a company incorporated in India under the Companies Act,1956 / 2013.
• PAs need to check their merchant customers are not involved in selling of prohibited or fake items and should also set up designated nodal offices to deal with customer grievances.