CRED wins RBI nod to operate as payment aggregator

By Puja Sharma

CRED has secured final approval from the Reserve Bank of India to operate as a payment aggregator, marking a significant development in India’s rapidly evolving digital payments landscape. The licence enables the FinTech platform to directly onboard merchants, manage payment settlements, and expand its role in facilitating transactions across multiple payment channels.

With the regulatory clearance, CRED can now operate without relying on intermediary partners, giving it greater control over merchant integrations and payment processing infrastructure. The approval allows the company to support both online and physical payment acceptance, broadening its ability to serve businesses across sectors.

The payment aggregator licence strengthens CRED’s position within India’s broader FinTech ecosystem. In addition to this approval, the company already holds a prepaid payment instrument licence and has secured regulatory permissions from bodies including the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India and National Payments Corporation of India, enabling it to offer a wider set of financial services across payments, insurance, investments, and third-party applications.

The development comes at a time when India’s digital payments ecosystem is expanding rapidly. Industry estimates show that CRED processed around ₹8.5 trillion (approximately $92 billion) in payments during FY25, driven by a user base of more than 15 million members on its platform.

CRED’s entry into the payment aggregator segment also places it among a growing group of licensed operators competing in the market. Other major players include Razorpay, which secured approval for cross-border payment aggregation, and Paytm, which received authorisation for online payment aggregation in late 2025.

IBS Intelligence previously reported on CRED’s growing push into financial services, including its partnership with Axis Bank to launch instant credit lines and expand its embedded finance capabilities.

For merchants, direct onboarding through the platform could streamline payment acceptance while reducing reliance on third-party processors. However, as competition intensifies and regulatory scrutiny around FinTech governance continues to increase, payment aggregators will need to balance rapid scale with robust compliance and operational resilience in one of the world’s fastest-growing digital payments markets.