With reference to Payment aggregators, consider the following statemen...
Payment Aggregators: Providing Payment Services to Merchants
Payment aggregators are platforms that provide payment services to merchants and e-commerce sites by accepting payment instruments from customers. They act as intermediaries between the merchants and the customers, facilitating transactions and ensuring secure payment processing. Here are some key points to consider regarding payment aggregators:
- Payment instruments: Payment aggregators accept various payment instruments such as credit/debit cards, net banking, mobile wallets, UPI, etc. from customers for making payments to the merchants. This enables customers to choose their preferred mode of payment and complete the transaction easily.
- Merchant onboarding: Payment aggregators onboard merchants onto their platform after verifying their credentials and compliance with regulatory requirements. This helps in maintaining the integrity of the payment ecosystem and preventing frauds.
- Payment processing: Payment aggregators process the payments made by customers and settle the funds to the merchants after deducting their service fees. They also provide reconciliation reports and analytics to the merchants for tracking their transactions and revenues.
- Security and fraud prevention: Payment aggregators use various security measures such as encryption, tokenization, two-factor authentication, etc. to ensure the safety of the payment data and prevent any unauthorized access. They also have fraud detection and prevention mechanisms in place to identify and block any fraudulent transactions.
Pooling Funds and Transferring to Merchants
Apart from providing payment services, payment aggregators also pool the funds received from customers and transfer them to merchants after a certain time. This is done to ensure timely settlements and reduce the cash flow gap between the transactions and the actual receipt of funds. Here are some key points to consider regarding fund pooling and transfer:
- Settlement cycles: Payment aggregators have predefined settlement cycles (usually daily or weekly) during which they transfer the funds to the merchants' bank accounts. This helps in streamlining the cash flow and reducing the administrative burden on the merchants.
- Escrow accounts: Payment aggregators may use escrow accounts to hold the funds temporarily before transferring them to the merchants. This provides an additional layer of security and prevents any unauthorized access to the funds.
- Service fees: Payment aggregators deduct their service fees from the pooled funds before transferring them to the merchants. The service fees may vary depending on the transaction volume, payment instrument used, merchant category, etc.
Conclusion
In summary, payment aggregators provide payment services to merchants by accepting payment instruments from customers and facilitating secure transactions. They also pool the funds received from customers and transfer them to the merchants after deducting their service fees. Payment aggregators play a crucial role in the digital payment ecosystem and enable businesses to accept payments from a wide range of customers.
With reference to Payment aggregators, consider the following statemen...
The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has asked Paytm Payments Services Limited to resubmit the application to operate as payment aggregator.
- A payment aggregator provides payment services to merchants and e-commerce sites by accepting payment instruments from customers. As a part of this, they pool the funds received from customers and transfer them to merchants after a certain time.
- The services include facilitating integrated payment options such as transactions of cash and cheque, and online and offline touch points, besides allowing bank transfers for merchants without the need to set up accounts directly with the bank.
Why a licence is needed?
- In a new set of guidelines issued in March 2020, the RBI mandated that all PAs shall be authorised by it. For this, the regulator instructed non-bank companies offering PA services to apply for authorisation by June 30, 2021, which was later pushed to September 30, 2021.
- The decision on granting the licence has come after a period of assessment of the applications. The norms made it important for all payment gateways to acquire a licence to continue. The few firms authorised to operate as payment aggregators in India will come under the direct purview of the RBI.
Hence both statements are correct.
To make sure you are not studying endlessly, EduRev has designed UPSC study material, with Structured Courses, Videos, & Test Series. Plus get personalized analysis, doubt solving and improvement plans to achieve a great score in UPSC.