India's payment aggregators face fresh licensing, net-worth, and merchant-onboarding rules — with a February 2026 wind-up deadline for non-compliant players.
RBI's New Payment Aggregator Rulebook: What Changes in 2026
The RBI's 2025 Payment Aggregator Directions reshape how PAs onboard merchants, hold funds, and secure data, with enforcement milestones landing through 2026.
India's payment aggregator industry entered 2026 under a substantially rewritten rulebook. The RBI's Regulation of Payment Aggregators Directions, 2025, issued September 15, 2025, replaced the lighter-touch 2020 guidelines with licensing, capital, and data-security requirements closer to those governing banks.
Licensing deadline already passed
Every non-bank entity operating as a PA needed fresh RBI authorization, with applications due December 31, 2025. Entities that didn't secure approval were required to stop payment aggregation activity by February 28, 2026 — the date the master direction, including its wind-up provisions, entered full force. This forced consolidation among smaller and mid-tier aggregators unable to meet the bar.
Capital and merchant-relationship rules tighten
Non-bank PAs must now hold a minimum net worth of ₹15 crore at the time of application, climbing to ₹25 crore within three years of approval — a meaningful jump from prior thresholds. Just as consequential: a PA can only aggregate funds for a merchant it has a direct contractual relationship with, and running marketplace-style fund flows through a PA license is now explicitly barred. Settlement options have also narrowed, tightening how quickly and through which channels merchant funds move.
Data security and a longer onboarding runway
PAs must implement PCI-DSS, PA-DSS, and current encryption and transport-security standards. Recognizing that re-verifying an entire merchant base takes time, the RBI extended the due-diligence deadline: merchants onboarded through December 31, 2025 have until September 15, 2026 to be brought into compliance with the new KYC requirements.
Why it matters
Together, these rules push India's PA market toward fewer, better-capitalized players with bank-grade compliance — raising the barrier to entry just as agentic and cross-border commerce are pushing transaction volumes higher.
Sources
Master Direction on Regulation of Payment Aggregators, 2025 — Digital Policy Alert, RBI Rewrites the Payment Aggregator Rulebook — Ikigai Law, RBI Guidelines for Payment Aggregators 2025 — Enterslice.
Frequently asked questions
Non-bank payment aggregators need a minimum net worth of ₹15 crore to apply, rising to ₹25 crore within three years of getting RBI approval.
Entities that failed to secure fresh RBI approval by the December 31, 2025 deadline were required to wind down payment aggregation operations by February 28, 2026.
Yes — PAs must now have a direct contractual relationship with each merchant they aggregate funds for, and marketplace-style aggregation without that direct link is no longer permitted.