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A Big US Payments Company Stripe to enter Indian Market through Partnership with SBI Payments


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Stripe, a global digital payments startup, is planning to enter the Indian payments industry through a partnership with SBI Payments Limited, a subsidiary of the State Bank of India. According to a report by Hindu Business Line, Stripe is seeking to form a joint venture with the State Bank of India and acquire a significant stake in SBI Payments Ltd.

Currently, SBI Payments is a joint venture between the State Bank of India and Hitachi Payments Services Private Limited, with SBI holding a 74% stake and the rest owned by Hitachi. Stripe is interested in acquiring the 30%-40% stake held by SBI.

The deal is expected to be executed through Stripe’s Indian subsidiary, Stripe India Private Limited, which obtained a license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in January 2024 to operate as an online payment aggregator. The RBI introduced the payment aggregator framework in March 2020, requiring all payment gateway operators to obtain a license for acquiring merchants and implementing digital payment solutions.

Discussions with the RBI are currently underway, with the report stating that the regulator has provided feedback to Stripe regarding certain matters related to risk management and data protection. Stripe is said to be addressing these concerns and will soon approach the regulator to seek approval for its investment in SBI Payments.

Founded in 2010, Stripe started as a tool for developers to enable credit card payments on websites and has since evolved into a comprehensive suite of fintech tools, including billing and tax solutions. In the previous year, Stripe secured $6.5 billion in funding at a valuation of $50 billion from investors such as GIC, Goldman Sachs Asset and Wealth Management, and Temasek.

Stripe is globally recognized as one of the largest players in the payments infrastructure sector, known for its strong presence in merchant acquisitions. A partnership with SBI would provide Stripe with the necessary scale to compete in the crowded Indian payments market, where several other players operate.

In 2024 alone, more than 20 startups have received approval from the RBI to establish their payment aggregator operations. Since December of the previous year, the RBI has approved payment aggregator applications or given in-principle approval to companies such as Zoho, Juspay, Decentro, CRED, PayU, Enkash, Pine Labs, Amazon Pay, Innoviti, Razorpay, CC Avenue, Cashfree, Tata Pay, Google Pay, Infibeam Avenues, Mswipe, and others.

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