Cashfree, Mobikwik, etc have come under the radar of the Reserve Bank of India

Various sources on condition of anonymity informed that many online payment companies including Cashfree and MobiKwik have come under the radar of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The source informed that these fintech firms face a possible rejection of their payment aggregator license applications. It has further been told that the inquiry comes in the backdrop of some of these fintech platforms having dealings with cryptocurrency exchanges and gaming apps. Cashfree has faced difficult questions regarding merchant partnerships for its payouts business, know-your-customer (KYC) norms, its net-worth criteria, and onboarding betting apps as clients.

The sources said, “The regulator is clearly not okay with payment aggregators having dealings with cryptocurrency companies, or with gaming apps which have in the past been accused of being a conduit to launder money.” Another source further informs that the Reserve Bank of India has decided to decline the payment aggregator license of the payment gateway service of MobiKwik, ZaakPay, because of its crypto partnerships and for not complying with the laid-down net-worth criterion. As per the rules of the Reserve Bank of India, Payment aggregators are expected to show a net worth of Rs 15 crore on the date of their applications or as of March-end 2021, and of Rs 25 crore by the end of the ongoing fiscal year (FY23).