By Kavita Mistry 
In a major development, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has secured in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to act as a payment aggregator. This license has been granted under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, and will allow IRCTC to process online payments independently via its IRCTC Payments Limited subsidiary.
This marks IRCTC’s entry into India’s fast-growing fintech ecosystem, traditionally dominated by private players like Razorpay, Cashfree, and PayU.
What Is a Payment Aggregator?
A payment aggregator (PA) allows merchants to accept various payment instruments from customers without needing to set up a separate payment integration. This includes credit/debit cards, UPI, net banking, and wallets. With the new approval, IRCTC will no longer have to depend on third-party service providers for online transactions on its vast platform.
Boost for iPay Platform
The aggregator license gives new strength to IRCTC’s in-house payment platform, iPay, which was launched in 2019 but had limited functionalities. With the RBI nod, iPay can now evolve into a robust payment gateway, offering seamless transactions for not just train bookings but also tourism packages, catering services, and other digital commerce offerings by IRCTC.
Next Steps and Final Approval
As per RBI guidelines, IRCTC Payments Limited must now fulfill all conditions laid down in the in-principle approval. Once those are met, the final authorization will be granted within a year. This puts IRCTC on track to be among the few government-backed entities with a full-fledged digital payments infrastructure.
Why It Matters
With over 8 crore users, IRCTC already runs one of the busiest e-commerce platforms in India. The aggregator license is a natural progression, giving it more control over transactions, better margins, and deeper integration of financial services — ultimately aligning with India’s broader digital transformation goals.