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Context is everything.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
Consolidation looms among niche, smaller players, while the big names will likely see their already thin margins dwindle.
Editor's note: In a LinkedIn post a couple of weeks ago, Vijay Yadav put out what was half investment pitch and half desperate plea: “… I would like to put forward the request and proposal for the investment in it - to increase the net worth of the Company to Rs. 15,00,00,000/- (Fifteen Crore Rupees) in order to match the requirements of the Reserve Bank of India…” Yadav is the co-founder of PayKun, a minor payment gateway startup based in Ahmedabad. His post pretty much sums up the state of most smaller payment processing startups in India. Many niche players are in the process of finding an investor or a buyer, and if nothing materializes then even winding up. The shake-up is no surprise: The Reserve Bank of India kicked it off a year ago with a set of formal guidelines for payment gateway companies, which till then had not been directly regulated. RBI’s new rules were immediately expected to squeeze small players and reshape the costs and models of the big names once they came into effect—starting at the beginning of …
The central bank’s shift to a 100% collateral requirement threatens to erode leverage, reduce volumes and force a consolidation across prop desks.
High returns, RBI-regulated comfort, and easy withdrawals drew investors in. Now, with repayments drying up, the fintech platform, its NBFC partner, and the regulator are pointing fingers—leaving customers to chase their own money.
The RBI’s unusually harsh order raises deeper questions about management credibility—and whether investors should take assurances at face value.
