Share of One 97 Communications, which operates Paytm Payment Services as a wholly owned subsidiary, has secured the online payment aggregator license from the Reserve Bank of India.

This follows the in-principle approval the payments major received in August this year. In a notice to the stock exchanges, Paytm said it received the certificate of authorization from the RBI to operate as a payment aggregator. The license further strengthens Paytm’s position as an online merchant payment processor.

While this is a routine certification for most large fintechs, Paytm’s application had run into trouble earlier when the central bank returned it in November 2022 over non-compliance with foreign direct investment norms.

In August 2024, the company secured the required clearances from the Union finance ministry, paving the way for the PA licenze. Until it received the in-principle nod, Paytm could not onboard new merchants and was allowed to service only existing ones.

Paytm currently holds the PA-Online licence from the RBI, while several peers have secured all payment aggregator authorizations. Cashfree, Pine Labs, PayU and Razorpay hold licenzes to operate as offline, online and cross-border payment companies.

Paytm reported a net profit of Rs 21 crore in the September quarter of the current financial year on operating revenue of Rs 2,061 crore, up 24 percent year-on-year.

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A “payment aggregator” (PA) is a non-bank entity that collects payments from customers and routes them to merchants. Instead of each merchant integrating separately with banks, the aggregator acts as a middleman for many.

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With full approval now, Paytm can legally onboard new merchants for online payments — which had been restricted since November 2022.

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The license strengthens Paytm’s role as a major online merchant-payment processor in India, allowing it to scale payment volumes, expand business, and restore its position in the digital-payments ecosystem.