Paytm RBI approval came on Friday 13 November, when the Reserve Bank of India gave preliminary clearance to the fintech company’s payments services unit to issue prepaid payment products, including digital wallets. The approval went to Paytm Payments Services Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of One 97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm. The news sent shares of One 97 Communications to a record high of Rs 1,960 in early trade, up as much as 1.8 percent on the day. The decision moves the company a step closer to restarting a wallet business that has been shut for more than two years.
Paytm RBI approval: what it allows
The Paytm RBI approval is an in-principle authorisation under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, to set up and operate a payment system for issuing prepaid payment instruments. It does not by itself let customers load money into a Paytm wallet again. Paytm Payments Services will be able to offer prepaid payment instruments, including wallets, only after receiving the central bank’s final authorisation. The company disclosed the development in a stock exchange filing on 13 November. The approval is directed at Paytm Payments Services rather than Paytm Payments Bank, which is a separate company in the group.
The Paytm RBI approval comes with conditions that must be met before wallets can return. The subsidiary has been told to carry out a system audit, including a cybersecurity audit, through an eligible auditor and to submit the report to the Reserve Bank within six months of the authorisation letter dated 13 November 2026. If the report is not submitted in that time, the in-principle authorisation will lapse automatically, and the central bank will not consider granting final authorisation after that. A final Certificate of Authorisation follows only once the audit is accepted. Paytm has not said when it expects to file the audit report.
Share price reaction
The news lifted the shares to a record high of Rs 1,960, before they closed at Rs 1,945 on Friday. The shares had risen 7.31 percent on Thursday to close at Rs 1,925, and they have gained nearly 50 percent so far this year. The record also crossed the November 2021 listing price of Rs 1,950 for the first time in nearly five years, though the shares remain below the Rs 2,150 price at which they were issued in the initial public offering. Paytm launched its wallet in 2014 and moved it into Paytm Payments Bank in 2017 under regulatory requirements. The Paytm RBI approval is the first step towards bringing that wallet business back.
For users, nothing changes yet. The wallet cannot take new money until the final authorisation arrives, and Paytm has not given a date for a relaunch. The wallet was one of Paytm’s earliest products, launched in 2014, and it was moved into Paytm Payments Bank in 2017 under regulatory rules. The six-month audit deadline runs to May 2027, so the earliest a wallet could return is after the audit report is filed and accepted. Until then, the Paytm RBI approval is a step in a process rather than a finished licence.
Paytm RBI decision follows two years of curbs
The Paytm RBI decision follows a long period of regulatory action against the group’s banking arm. In January 2024 the Reserve Bank barred Paytm Payments Bank from accepting fresh deposits and wallet top-ups over persistent non-compliance and supervisory concerns, with the restrictions taking effect from 15 March 2024. The curbs effectively halted the bank’s normal wallet operations. In April 2026 the central bank cancelled the banking licence of Paytm Payments Bank, and the bank is now being wound up. The Paytm RBI approval does not restore that banking licence. It gives a different company in the group a regulated route back into wallets, subject to final approval. Paytm Payments Services already holds a Certificate of Authorisation as a payment aggregator, granted on 26 November 2025, which lets it process online payments for merchants.