PhonePe gets final payment aggregator licence from RBI

19 Sep 2025, 10:20 PM

The approval comes more than two years after the fintech giant first secured in-principle approval from the RBI.

Team Head&Tale

PhonePe has received the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) final authorisation to operate as an online payment aggregator. 

The approval comes more than two years after the fintech giant first secured in-principle approval from the RBI.

PhonePe becomes 56th company to have obtained the final payment aggregator licence from the central bank. 

Other companies who recieved their final PA approval this year are BharatPe, PayU, Pine Labs, Easebuzz, MobiKwik, Phi Commerce, Ftcash, Khatabook among others.

PhonePe boasts over 650 million registered users and a merchant network of 45 million. The company, co-founded by Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari in 2015, was acquired by the Flipkart group in 2016 and has raised external funding over the years. In 2023, PhonePe had secured $100 million as part of its $1 billion funding round at a pre-money valuation of $12 billion.

The fintech is planning to file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP with the markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) soon. 

It aims to raise as much as $1.5 billion via its IPO at a valuation of $15 billion, as per media reports.

Walmart, which acquired Flipkart in 2018, continues to be a major shareholder in PhonePe. Other investors in PhonePe include Microsoft, Tiger Global, General Atlantic, Ribbit Capital, Tencent, TVS Capital and Qatar Investment Authority.