Online Payment Aggregators (PA)

Why in News?

  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently given in-principle approval to 32 firms to operate as Online Payment Aggregators (PA), under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (PSS Act).

Highlights

  • The PSS Act, 2007 provides for the regulation and supervision of payment systems in India and designates the RBI as the authority for that purpose and all related matters.
  • Online payment aggregators are companies that facilitate online payments by acting as intermediaries between the customer and the merchant.
  • The RBI introduced Guidelines for Regulating Pas and Payment Gateway in March 2020.
  • They typically provide a range of payment options to customers, including credit and debit cards, bank transfers, and e-wallets.
  • Payment aggregators collect and process payment information, ensuring that transactions are secure and reliable.
  • By using a payment aggregator, businesses can avoid the need to set up and manage their own payment processing systems, which can be complex and expensive.
  • Some examples of payment aggregators include PayPal, Stripe, Square, and Amazon Pay.
  • They involve high setup costs and are difficult to integrate.
  • They lack many of the popular payment options along with detailed reporting features. Because of the high cost, bank payment aggregators are not suitable for small businesses and startups.
  • Third-party Pas offer innovative payment solutions to businesses and have become more popular these days.
  • Their user-friendly features include a comprehensive dashboard, easy merchant onboarding, and quick customer support.

 

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