Mobikwik Gets RBI's Nod For Offline Payment Aggregator License

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]Upasana Taku with us, co-founder, CFO and executive director at MobiKwik.

[00:00:04]Upasana, thank you so much for coming and speaking to us exclusively this morning.

[00:00:09]You know, just just tell us why this is such a big deal. How does this payment aggregator license just push and propel your strategy further?

[00:00:21]Yeah, hi. Thank [clears throat] you so much for having me here tonight today.

[00:00:24]So, I think that we've been talking about earlier in our earnings for Q4, you know, that we want to increase the pace at which we expand in the merchant payments business.

[00:00:35]Merchant payments business specifically in terms of physical offline merchants, which of course consists of, you know, small businesses, kirana stores, petrol pumps, oil and oil and gas outlets, and also some amount of regional organized chains. Now, this business is something that, you know, we've been developing for the last 1 or 2 years, but this license is actually required if you want to do your own acquiring for these merchants. As in, you go want to go and acquire the merchant and either deploy a QR sound box or EDC.

[00:01:07]This license did not used to exist before. It has come into the play in the last couple of years itself. And, you know, we had also made an application for this business. I think our vision is very simple. We want to build merchant payments as a pillar of growth for MobiKwik. We are already very strong in consumer payments, which delivers 75% of the revenue of the company. We also have a lending credit distribution business, which delivers 25% of the revenue of the company. Our aim is that this merchant payments business can also become a sizeable vertical in the next 2 years, which is why we have said that we aim to scale this merchant business in terms of revenues 10x in financial year 27 and 28 combined. And, our main aim is to get to the under-penetrated, you know, markets, which are outside of the key urban centers, the big cities. And I think this license really strengthens our ability to do that and sets the right foundation for us to scale in a consistent manner so that it can compound for long term.

[00:02:16]Got it. Got it. Okay. Um Upasana, how how does in some sense how does Good morning, this is Neeraj here. How does this shape up? Because I think in the past when we've spoken, there have been times or two when you've spoken about how a development or two that has happened has actually been a landmark development and much more important for MobiKwik than what the markets realize. Could you tell us therefore uh what is uh or how does the how do the next 6 months look from a development perspective and events perspective and what it does to the or what What is the impact that it has on the underlying growth trajectory for MobiKwik?

[00:02:59]No, absolutely. I think that you know, regardless of how people perceive it, you know, I'm a fintech entrepreneur and have been building uh this uh for the last 17 years. I can tell you that every uh license that is approved or granted by a regulator in India is a extremely important milestone in the development of any fintech company. So, to that extent, you know, we are very grateful that RBI has been reposing our faith in us and it also definitely sets the tone in terms of the governance standards and the compliance standards of the company.

[00:03:34]I'm also happy to inform you that from last April till now, this is the fourth license that the company has received.

[00:03:41]April last year, we received the payment aggregator online, which is for e-commerce merchant acquiring, which is the payment gateway business. Then we received the broking license uh you know, sometime in July.

[00:03:55]I think just few weeks ago we received the NBFC license. And now we have received the PA physical license. So it is definitely a big big shot in the arm in terms of the ability to be dependent on your own license and not be dependent on anybody else to expand this business.

[00:04:13]It validates the progress that we've already made in building the right foundation of this business.

[00:04:20]See, what happens is that when you want to scale this business, you know, people look for credibility. So if I want to tie up with a large oil outlet, whether it is Indian Oil or BP or HP, you know, they definitely want a licensed and regulated entity to partner with them.

[00:04:36]If I want to go to any large merchant, and let's say I'm just saying hypothetically, go to a chain of coffee shops or a large chain of pharmacy, which is a pan-India chain, they definitely want to make sure that hey, do you have the licenses and everything that is required to scale this long term? Because nobody wants to partner for 6 months or 1 year. And to that extent, you know, this is a massive shot in the arm. It will allow us to scale up our merchant acquiring in a big way.

[00:05:08]We do expect that we will deploy 5x 6x device deployments in terms of sound box and EDC. And also from a revenue and monetization perspective, let me be very brutally honest. You know, consumer payments consist of wallet, UPI and bill payments, out of which UPI is the largest payment method, but it derives zero MDR. So merchant as a category is very strong. There is rental income from the devices. There is MDR income, and of course there is the merchant credit income that follows.

[00:05:38]Okay. So Upasana, help us understand, you know, two-part question I have over here. The first bit is when you talk about execution and unit economics over here, because there will be a customer acquisition cost for deploying any of these sound boxes, the EDC machine specifically when it comes to tier two, tier three. So, what is that going to look like going ahead number one and the kind of payback period that you're looking at on this aspect? Then I will take the next question with you.

[00:06:04]No, absolutely. See, as part of our IPO back in December 24, we had raised a substantial amount of money for device deployment and we still have most of that capital available because you know, we have not yet done those deployments.

[00:06:17]We were also waiting eagerly to get the final license here before we expand heavily. I think that the manpower cost in terms of reaching, you know, parts of every city and state and especially like you mentioned, our focus is the tier two, tier three market which are completely under penetrated right now.

[00:06:35]So, it does cost. It's a few hundred rupees. We've not given the merchant acquisition cost as a quarterly disclosure yet, but in the upcoming quarters, you should expect we will give more disclosures on this business.

[00:06:47]But typically, the device rental as well as the MDR from CC on UPI transactions, a rupee credit card transactions and in EDC all card transactions are able to suffice in terms of contribution level profitability. But of course, the scale up and then further monetization from giving merchant credit to some of these merchants, you know, is really the icing on the cake and delivers very good margins. And to that extent, we have already disclosed in our Q4 earnings that we expect that the business will take almost 18 to 24 months to scale up to a 10x level and in this timeframe, it will also break even. So, the way we go at it is very systematic. You know, when we enter a state or a zone, it takes us few months to do the heavy deployment and engagement. And I think within 6 to 8 months of that, you know, those sectors start becoming break even for us and we intend to replicate this over and over and on a pan-India and overall category level, we do expect that when it comes to March 28, not only will this be a sizable business in our in FY, but it will also be a profitable >> Okay, Upasana, you know, it will be sizable, it will be profitable, multiple licenses that you've got. You're talking about a payment aggregator now, which is physical. Online came in in the past.

[00:08:06]You've got an NBFC license also, which was in April. Another, you know, I think a small bank license also, which is the license has not come in, but the approval to apply, I think has come in, right? If I'm not mistaken. And you had a stock broking registration as well.

[00:08:23]So, licenses are in place.

[00:08:27]The question is, when does this translate into revenues? When does this translate into profitability? Because that's what investors want to know.

[00:08:35]No, absolutely. We are gunning for growth. And in India, fintech is heavily regulated. Setting the right foundation is what will give us long-term compounding and therefore will give our investors long-term compounding. I think you should expect growth from MobiKwik in FY27 and 28 both. We have committed that we will intend to be profitable at the bottom line level as we grow through this and build out these businesses in 27.

[00:09:04]The major reaping of the benefits of these investments will deliver in FY28.

[00:09:09]So, the profitability should go up in FY28. FY27, because our core businesses will be generating margin, and we will be burning money in building these new businesses. So, while we intend to be profitable, the profitability might be uh a lot much lower in percentage as compared to FY28, when these businesses would have delivered and the investments that we are doing this year will definitely start, uh, you know, showing up by the 18 to 24 mark, uh, which is uh, by the time we are, you know, in the in the second half of FY28, the profitability gains should go up significantly.

[00:09:46]Now, so so Upasana, four licenses that you talked about and that's very heartening. Uh, you talked about investments. Can we put some numbers to, uh, you know, these points that you're making? What is the kind of investments you need right now to make the most of these licenses that you've got? How are you funding them? And if we can get as many specifics as possible. When you're saying that you will see profitability, uh, coming in by FY28, what is that looking like to you? What is it looking like on the top line?

[00:10:17]So, firstly, Tamanna, we are profitable in Q3, Q4 already, both at EBITDA and PAT level. Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. I'm talking about the additional tailwind that you're getting from all of these licenses.

[00:10:29]Yeah, absolutely. So, I think firstly, I want to say that I won't expect anything from the broking out of the broking business because that business will just literally launch by the end of this year. So, my expectation from that will be pretty low.

[00:10:44]Uh, that we'll start seeing some impact in FY28. Now, coming to both the payment licenses, the payment aggregator online, which we received earlier uh, last year, and this uh, payment aggregator physical, both of these businesses we are gunning for 10x revenue growth. So, um, if we are doing X crores um, per month right now, in single digits, we are definitely expecting double-digit revenue from both of these verticals.

[00:11:12]And uh, they will therefore directly impact the revenue as well as the bottom line of the company. My intention is our intention is that merchant payments it shall itself should become 20 to 30% of the revenue pie of the company uh, very soon in the next few years. So, that's the what I can tell you. Currently, uh, you know, it would be sub 5%. It would be very small, maybe single digits, even less than 5%.

[00:11:39]Uh in terms of lending, now lending is an established business of the company in the digital credit distribution. Uh and here, you know, we will benefit from the NBFC license substantially.

[00:11:51]Uh but first, you know, there is a lag time because first we have to move it, which we are literally doing. We are moving it to a wholly-owned subsidiary of MobiKwik. The credit distribution business. We already have capital for all of these businesses.

[00:12:05]For the payment aggregation business, uh we've already taken money in our use of proceeds. For the merchant payments device, we've already taken money in our use of proceeds, and we are sitting on 424 crores of cash as of end of March.

[00:12:20]So, we have all the capital available to make these investments. We are expecting FY27 uptake in revenue and profitability. Perfect.

[00:12:30]>> We are expecting more uptake in revenue in FY28 and stronger profitability in FY28.

[00:12:36]Wishing you all the best for that, and Mobic as thanks so much for taking the time out and being with us today. Thank you so much.