Fintech company Decentro launches new payments stack with PA approval

Months after receiving final approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as an online payments aggregator, fintech firm Decentro has announced the launch of its new payments stack, “Flow 2.0.”

The company has launched fintech products such as collections on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and plans to introduce recurring payments in the coming weeks.

“The key use cases for UPI collections are e-commerce, logistics, last minute deliveries, hyperlocal commerce, gaming, ed-tech, etc. Recurring payments are expected to be rolled out by early to mid-June. This will include E-National Automated Clearing House (E-NACH) which will mandate subscription, investment and credit use cases,” said Rohit Taneja, co-founder and CEO, Decentro, in an interaction with Business Standard.

The launch of the company’s latest solution comes after it received final approval to operate as an online payment aggregator in February this year.

The license from the banking regulator will enable the company to manage merchant payments, among other transaction processes.

“Simply put, we have been a payment gateway till now. A payment gateway only deals with the technology and not the flow of money. As a payment aggregator, we can manage the flow of money to an escrow account and settle directly with the merchant,” Taneja added.

The Bengaluru-based fintech infrastructure platform targets large retailers and is onboarding around 40 such businesses every month.

“Our strategy is to probably deal with a few hundred, maybe less than 100 (retailers) per month. The ones we deal with tend to be mid-sized or large retailers,” he said.

Merchants, meanwhile, will see a faster onboarding process that can be completed within two days, though Taneja said the company is looking to reduce that time to less than one business day in future by obtaining a payment aggregator license.

“The entire onboarding flow is managed by us. It’s not like the traditional payment gateway mode where you are dependent on the bank. That’s the benefit,” he said.

Flow 2.0 will enable businesses to conduct transactions based on an RBI approved framework.Currently, the company supports clients like Shiprocket, Kodo, Volopay, etc.

Decentro is one of 22 companies that have received online payment aggregator licenses this year, and the regulatory approval means the company will now come directly under the RBI’s compliance oversight.

The company raised $4.7 million in a Series A funding round in 2022 from Rapyd Ventures, Leonis VC, and Uncorrelated Ventures.

The company is backed by Indian angel investors including Kunal Shah of Cred, Lalit Keshre, co-founder and CEO of Groww, and Beerud Sheth, co-founder and CEO of Gupshup.