RBI authorizes CRED to operate as a payment aggregator

CRED has received final authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as a Payment Aggregator (PA). The approval is an endorsement of CRED’s operational discipline, safeguards, and governance. 

With this, the RBI has formally authorized CRED (Dreamplug Paytech Solutions Private Limited) to operate a payment system directly under the regulator’s supervision. The license enables CRED to onboard merchants, collect payments on their behalf across instruments, and handle settlement and refunds.

CRED and its subsidiaries now hold two licenses from the RBI: the Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) license secured earlier, and the PA license. Group companies also hold a corporate agency license by IRDA, a registered investment advisor license from SEBI, and a TPAP license from NPCI, signifying comfort among multiple financial sector regulators with CRED’s operating model and practices.

In FY2024-25, CRED managed payments of over ₹8.5 lakh crore, on behalf of 1.5 crore creditworthy and affluent Indians. Over a third of credit card bill payments in India are made on CRED. It is one of the few Indian fintechs with both ISO 27001 and ISO 27701 certifications, which are globally accepted security standards. It undergoes and passes 100+ external regulatory and partner audits annually. 

With CRED now authorized to directly manage core payment flows, members can expect a faster, more seamless, and reliable payment experience. It signifies that CRED is trusted for its ability to responsibly manage large volumes of customer funds and data securely and transparently.

Kunal Shah, founder, CRED, said, “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 authorization 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.”