Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted Payment- Aggregator- Cross Border (PA-CB) license to 3 merchant payment companies namely IndiaIdeas.com Limited (BillDesk), Amazon Pay (India) Private Limited, and global payments major Adyen India Technology Services Private Limited (Adyen).
- BillDesk received the licence for both exports and imports (PA-CB-E&I) and Amazon Pay and Adyen received the licence for only import(PA-CB-I).
- This PA-CB license allows these companies to offer payment services for international trade and domestic merchant payment services.
Note: Bengaluru (Karnataka)-based Cashfree Payments, India’s leading payments company was the 1st PA to secure the PA-CB licence on 22 July 2024.
Key Points:
i.Mumbai (Maharashtra)-based BillDesk is one of the largest bill-processing entities in India.
ii.Amazon Pay India, the digital payments arm of the electronic commerce (e-commerce) giant Amazon India, offers mobile wallet payments, Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based transactions, and bill payments.
iii.The Netherlands-headquartered listed payment company Adyen, globally processed nearly 300 billion euros in transactions in the first quarter of 2024, with a net revenue of 438 million euros.
About the PA-CB Licence:
i.The PA-CB license enables payment companies to offer payment services in the export-import space, particularly for international remittances and payments for freelancers working with global companies from India.
ii.These companies can now:
- Help Indian exporters accept payments in international currencies.
- Assist global brands in selling to India by accepting local payment methods.
iii.In addition to the PA-CB licence, all these companies, including Cashfree, also hold the PA license for domestic operations.
Additional Info:
India is a massive market for international remittances and freelancers. According to the Economic Survey 2024, India is expected to receive USD 129 billion worth of remittances by 2025.
RBI Imposes Monetary Penalties on 5 Co-operative Banks for Regulatory Non-Compliance
The RBI has imposed monetary penalties on 5 Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs) on 1st August 2024. The 5 UCBs are,
- Urban Co-operative Bank Ltd., Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh(UP)
- Nagnath Urban Co-operative Bank Limited, Hingoli, Maharashtra
- Shrikrishna Co-operative Bank Limited, Umrer, Maharashtra
- Alibag Co-operative Urban Bank Limited, Alibag, Maharashtra
- The Hindusthan Co-operative Bank Limited, Mumbai, Maharashtra
Reason for Penalty:
i.The RBI imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 5 lakh on Urban Co-operative Bank for non-compliance with the RBI’s directions on ‘Investments by Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks’.
ii.The RBI imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 1 lakh on Nagnath UCB for ‘contravened provisions of section 26A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (BR Act)’.
iii.The RBI imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 2.08 lakh on Shrikrishna Co-operative Bank for non-compliance with the RBI directions on ‘Loans and advances to directors, their relatives, and firms/concerns in which they are interested’.
iv.The RBI imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 2 lakh on Alibag Co-operative Urban Bank for non-compliance with certain directions issued by RBI on ‘Management of Advances-UCBs’.
v.The RBI imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 4 lakh on The Hindusthan Co-operative Bank for non-compliance with the RBI directions on:
- Exposure Norms and Statutory/Other Restrictions – UCBs;
- Limits on exposure to single and group borrowers/parties and large exposures – UCBs; and
- Know Your Customer (KYC) Norms.
Note: These penalties have been imposed under Section 47A(1)(c) read with Sections 46(4)(i) and 56 of the BR Act, 1949.
