Digital payments and financial services Fintech company BharatPe has received final authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday to function as an online payment aggregator.

The regulatory nod concludes a process that began in January 2023, when Peak XV Partner-backed BharatPe received in-principle approval from the central bank.

“This final authorisation is not just a milestone, but a responsibility we take seriously. It speaks to the strength of the governance practices and operational frameworks we’ve put in place over the years,” said Nalin Negi, CEO of BharatPe.

The approval paves the way for the launch of its new platform, ‘BharatPe X’, which will enable the company to expand regulated ecommerce transaction settlement services. With this green light, BharatPe will offer early settlements and extend its partnerships with banks and NBFCs to scale up its lending services.

The company plans to leverage this approval to deepen its reach across tier 2 and tier 3 cities, investing significantly in technology infrastructure to power its growing network of merchants.

With this RBI approval, BharatPe joins the ranks of other licensed payment aggregators like Razorpay, Easebuzz, and Google Pay.

Founded in 2018 by Shark Tank-fame Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani, BharatPe currently operates in over 450 cities and serves a merchant base of more than 1.3 crore. It processes over 450 million UPI transactions every month, with an annualised transaction value exceeding Rs. 1.7 lakh crore. Through its lending arm, BharatPe Money, the company has disbursed loans worth over Rs 18,000 crore in collaboration with NBFCs. The loan portfolio includes offerings such as loans against mutual funds and home loans.