The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted authorisation to Eroute Technologies to operate as a prepaid payment instruments (PPI) company.

The RBI issued authorisation on May 10, 2021, to Eroute Technologies Pvt Ltd with perpetual validity to commence issuance and operations of semi-closed pre-paid instruments in the country, the company stated in a statement on Wednesday.

The Noida-based firm stated the RBI authorisation will allow it to launch its payment solutions at scale independently unlike neo banks and other bank-led fintech companies.

PPIs are instruments that facilitate purchase of goods and services, including financial services, remittances, and funds transfers, against the value stored in such instruments.

The company aims to serve the underserved segments that comprise almost 680 million people, by creating user-friendly payment solutions addressing the specific needs of various consumer segments of our society, it said.

The firm stated it is also aggressively pursuing co-branded payment solutions with consumer companies.

Eroute Technologies MD & CEO Sanjeev Pandey stated, "Amid the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital payments have become crucial for the people and the government to fight COVID-19 spread between human to human."

He stated the company will focus on enriching payment experiences across sections of the society by offering safe, secure and reliable payment solutions to match the lifestyle of the users.

Eroute Technologies is a fintech company founded by Sanjeev Pandey, former group president of Yes Bank, Abhishek Saxena, an alumnus of IIT-BHU, and Jason Ho, chairman of Taiwan-based Taisys Group.

Last month, the RBI had allowed non-banking payment system operators of PPIs to become a direct member of the RBI operated of the centralised payment systems of RTGS/ NEFT transactions.

Besides, the full-KYC PPIs like wallets and prepaid cards are made interoperable, the outstanding balance in such instruments stands increased to Rs 2 lakh and cash withdrawals have been permitted through ATMs and points of sale.

This will make non-bank issued PPIs almost at par with bank accounts which will boost digital financial inclusion, extension to cater to the needs of the customers, including MSMEs, small traders and merchants, Eroute stated.

The company said it has SBI former chairman A K Purwar as a founding chairman, ex-RBI deputy governor H R Khan, former government secretary Vijay Chhibber, and ex-NPCI Product Management Head Ram Rastogi, forming its advisory team.

The company stated it has a full-fledged execution team with a proven track record of employing various payment systems in the country.