Hitachi Payment Services on Thursday said it has received the final authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as an online payment aggregator.

This will enable the company to expand its digital solutions and services stack to encompass payment options, including UPI, net banking, cards and wallets along with value-added services, Hitachi Payment said in a statement.

Value-added services include EMI, pay later, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), link-based payments and loyalty solutions to merchants.

Anuj Khosla, CEO, Digital Business, Hitachi Payment Services, said, “Receiving the licence is not just a validation of our capabilities, but a catalyst for us to bring innovative solutions and broaden our offerings. Our state-of-the-art platforms and end-to-end services coupled with our expanded capabilities, uniquely positions us to cater to the diverse needs of banks and fintechs, enhance merchant adoption and make digital payments more pervasive.”

The company processes over 2.5 billion digital transactions annually for some of India’s leading banks and fintechs.

What Is Payment Aggregator?

Payment aggregators (PA) are entities that facilitate e-commerce sites and merchants to accept various payment instruments from the customers for completion of their payment obligations without the need for merchants to create a separate payment integration system of their own.

PAs allow customers to use debit cards, credit cards, net banking, mobile wallets, and other UPI-based options for online transactions.