Razorpay, EbixCash and Regulus Pay pursue GIFT City payment licences
Razorpay, EbixCash and Regulus Pay are among 10-15 payment providers at an advanced stage of seeking IFSC licences in GIFT City, targeting cross-border transfers, merchant acquisition and escrow services under the centre’s unified regulatory framework.
What happened
Razorpay, Regulus Pay and EbixCash are pursuing GIFT City payment-services licences, enabling cross-border transfers, merchant acquisition and escrow services.
Key facts
- 10-15 payment-service providers are at an advanced licensing stage
- 9 payment-service providers authorised so far
- Regulus Pay IFSC applied in August
- Razorpay IFSC and EbixCash World Money Global IFSC applied in July
Why this matters
Payments platforms and retail-finance buyers should assess GIFT City-licensed fintechs as partnership or acquisition targets for faster entry into cross-border transfers, acquiring and escrow.
What to watch
- Named IFSC licence approvals, in-principle approvals or authorization categories granted to Razorpay, EbixCash, Regulus Pay and peers.
- IFSC Authority or RBI clarification on payment aggregator activities, merchant acquiring, escrow treatment, KYC and permissible cross-border settlement flows.
- Launch of multi-currency merchant collection, international payouts, export-payment or escrow products from newly licensed entities.
- Banking partnerships with IFSC Banking Units, correspondent banks, card schemes or global payment processors.
- Reported GIFT City transaction volumes, export-merchant onboarding counts and FX settlement growth.
- Any tightening of capital, data-localization, AML or transaction-monitoring requirements that raises operating costs.
- Razorpay, EbixCash and Regulus Pay will likely deepen applications through IFSC entities, compliance leadership hires and bank/correspondent partnerships.
- Applicants will prioritize products with clearer institutional demand: export-merchant acquiring, multi-currency collection accounts, marketplace settlements, escrow and trade-linked payments.
- Payment firms may seek alliances with GIFT City banks, AD Category dealers, card networks and global PSPs to secure FX liquidity and overseas payout coverage.
- Competitive positioning will shift from domestic checkout pricing toward cross-border settlement speed, foreign-currency acceptance, reconciliation and compliance tooling.
- Larger Indian fintechs may acquire or partner with licensed IFSC entities if direct approvals or operating build-outs prove slow.