Paytm, a wholly owned subsidiary of One 97 Communications, has received in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India to operate as an online payment aggregator under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.

The approval is subject to compliance with the RBI’s Guidelines on Regulation of Payment Aggregators and Payment Gateways issued in March 2020 and subsequent clarifications in March 2021.

It follows the central bank’s decision to withdraw merchant onboarding restrictions imposed in November 2022.

The authorisation covers only online payment aggregator operations as defined in the RBI’s regulations.

In a separate development, China’s Ant Group has fully exited its stake in One 97 Communications, selling its remaining 5.84 percent through block deals worth about ₹3,800 crore (US$434 million).

The sale, managed by Goldman Sachs India and Citigroup Global Markets India, concludes a phased exit that began with a 10.3 percent stake sale in August 2023 and a further 4 percent in May 2025.

Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by thanyakij-12 via Freepik