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Stripe blames regulatory landscape for move to invite-only in India

Payments giant Strip is moving to an invite-only model for new clients in India as it builds up the infrastructure to deal with an evolving regulatory landscape.

The firm says it has made the "tough decision" for the temporary switch, telling businesses in India that they now need to request an invite to sign up to its services.

Stripe says that the regulatory landscape means that it cannot currently promise a quick launch and easy onboarding for Indian firms. No specific regulations are named by the company.

"We remain strongly committed to India, and are working to build out the infrastructure to be able to support more users by the second half of 2025," says a statement.

Related Companies

Stripe

Lead Channel

Regulation & Compliance

Channels

Retail banking Payments

Editorial | what does this mean?

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community.

Comments: (2)

Hitesh Thakkar - SME - Fintech startups (APAC and Africa) - India 31 May, 2024, 14:16

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Stripe received Payment Aggregator license (in-principle) in early 2024 so now next step is to put up infrastructure which as per regulator (RBI) need to follow it's cyber security controls, process and procedures.

Back of the envelope calculation on timeline

1 3 to 4 months to setup infra and controls.DC + DR ( In India).

2. 3 to 4 months for PCI and ITGRC norms audits

May or June 2025 seems reasonable cooling time justified.

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Ketharaman Swaminathan - GTM360 Marketing Solutions - Pune 03 June, 2024, 12:56

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In between, the Indian banking regulator drastically increased the scope of merchant due diligence that payment aggregator license holders like Stripe need to carry out to onboard new merchants. It was earlier like KYC that could be carried out by the merchant in self-service mode. It has now become like KYB that needs to be carried out by PA via physical verification. Experts told Economic Times last month that the change in reg announced by RBI would increase efforts and costs for PAs and slow down merchant onboarding by 9X.

Notwithstanding what Stripe is saying about commitment to India now, I wouldn't be surprised if it's effectively bidding sayonara to the Indian market, just like many merchants did on the back of Reg Emandate announced by RBI for recurring payments 2.5 years ago.