PayU gets final nod from RBI to process online business payments

Merchant payment company PayU has secured the final approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as an online payment aggregator (PA).

The RBI granted the licence on May 13. This comes more than a year after the Prosus-backed firm received the in-principle approval from the banking regulator to operate this business. It had started onboarding new merchants since then.

PayU is a subsidiary of Prosus, which is the Netherlands-listed fintech arm of South African technology investor Naspers.

“As we move forward, we remain dedicated to building a resilient, compliant, inclusive, and innovation-driven institution—one that serves merchants of all sizes,” said a PayU spokesperson.

PayU joins the likes of BillDesk, CCAvenue, Razorpay and Cashfree, which have all received the Online-PA licence from the central bank over the last one year. Zaakpay, which is run by MobiKwik, was one of the last major players to get this licence in April, 2025.

Digital payments major PayU, one of the earliest online payment companies in India, was asked by the central bank to stop onboarding new merchants in 2022. Then again in 2023, ET reported that PayU’s application for the PA licence was returned, and it was asked to apply afresh.

The company then went on a reorganisation spree, selling off its Global Payments Unit to Rapyd for $610 million. It consolidated its India and Southeast Asia business under PayU India and appointed Anirban Mukherjee as its chief executive officer. Beyond payments, PayU offers credit services and also actively invests in emerging companies.

While the firm faced a slowdown in business through 2022-23, it restarted onboarding new merchants in 2024.

In the financial year 2024, PayU reported overall revenue of $444 million, an 11% jump from $399 million in the previous financial year. India contributed 46% of its overall revenues and 60% of its total payments value in the last fiscal.