One MobiKwik Systems Ltd on Tuesday announced that it has received in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for its Payment Aggregator-Physical (PA-P) licence, strengthening the company’s offline merchant payments business strategy.
The company said the approval will enable it to deepen its offline merchant payments presence across India and marks a key milestone in its transition as a full-stack fintech platform serving consumers and merchants.
MobiKwik stated that it currently supports a network of nearly 4.9 million merchants through offerings including UPI QR, Soundbox and EDC machines. The company has identified small businesses, oil & gas outlets and organised retail as strategic focus segments over the next 18-24 months.
According to the company, it plans to significantly increase Soundbox and EDC deployments as part of its target to achieve 10x growth in its merchant business by FY28.
MobiKwik highlighted that offline merchant payments remain a large and under-penetrated opportunity in India. Citing Redseer estimates, the company said the merchant payments gross merchandise value opportunity could reach USD 1.8-2 trillion by FY28.
The company added that unlike consumer payments that largely run on zero-MDR rails, offline acquiring offers stronger MDR opportunities, subscription and device rental economics, along with relatively lower competitive intensity.
MobiKwik also noted that the PA-P licence strengthens its ability to build compliant, secure and scalable payment acceptance infrastructure for offline commerce in partnership with banks.
The group had earlier received the Payment Aggregator-Online (PA-O) licence through its subsidiary Zaakpay around a year ago, enhancing its omnichannel merchant payments capabilities across online and offline commerce.
Shares of One MobiKwik Systems surged over 7% following the company’s announcement to hit an intraday high of Rs 205.70 against its previous close of Rs 191.16.
Commenting on the development, Bipin Preet Singh, Co-founder, MD & CEO of MobiKwik, said offline merchant payments are emerging as one of the strongest growth drivers within India’s digital economy, especially in underpenetrated markets beyond urban India.
Disclaimer: This article is based on company press release disclosures and is intended for informational purposes only.