Indian fintech firm Cred has received the final licence from the central bank of the country to operate as a payment aggregator.

The approval from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will enable Cred to onboard merchants directly without routing through other payment intermediaries or banks. The company will also be able to collect payments on behalf of merchants across payment instruments, manage settlements and refunds.

Payment aggregators support online transactions by allowing businesses to accept and process payments through various channels.

According to a Business Standard report, the Bengaluru-based company now holds both online and physical payment aggregator licences. It also has approval for a prepaid payment instrument (PPI) from the banking regulator.

Cred founder Kunal Shah was quoted by the publication as saying: “Stakeholder trust has been central to how we’ve built Cred from the get-go; we’ve operated with a high bar for performance, reliability, transparency, and governance from day zero.

“The authorisation to operate as a payment aggregator reflects the trust we’ve consistently built across the ecosystem and sets the foundation for the next chapter of enabling financial progress for India’s most creditworthy.”

Cred also holds multiple regulatory permissions across financial services.

These include a corporate agency licence from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), a registered investment advisory licence from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), and a third-party application provider (TPAP) licence from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

Cred handled payments of more than Rs 8.5trn ($92.07bn) in FY25 from over 15 million users.

According to RBI data, India has more than 50 licenced payment aggregators.

In the sector, Razorpay secured a Payment Aggregator-Cross Border licence last year. One 97 Communications, the parent of Paytm Payment Services, also received the RBI’s online payment aggregator licence in November 2025.