The Reserve Bank of India has turned down MobiKwik’s application to operate Zaakpay as a payment aggregator. According to the sources, the Gurugram-based firm, which has received regulatory approval for its Rs 1,900 crore IPO, would no longer be able to onboard new merchants and existing merchants who use Zaakpay as a payment gateway will have 180 days to quit using it. Support for Cryptocurrency is Likely Reason For RBI’s Refusal According to the reports, one of the main reasons for the RBI’s refusal of the payment aggregator’s license could be MobiKwik’s support for cryptocurrency exchanges via Zaakpay. Following the RBI’s rejection, several Indian crypto exchanges have disabled the use of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) services on their platforms. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which operates retail payment and settlement systems, recently issued an official statement indicating that it is “not aware of any crypto exchange using UPI.” UPI services were suspended across several Indian crypto exchanges a few days after the NPCI’s clarification. On bitcoin exchanges, MobiKwik was one of the most popular e-wallet providers. Due to the abrupt suspension of UPI services, these exchanges rely on peer-to-peer transfers and agreements with a few select institutions to conduct crypto trading. MobiKwik did not respond to our inquiries. A request for comment from the RBI was not immediately returned. As soon as th...
