Paytm Restarts Merchant Onboarding After Securing Key RBI Licences

When Vijay Shekhar Sharma said, “The upside is clear. There is still significant headroom in the online merchant ecosystem.” It wasn’t framed as a comeback line. It sounded more like a reset marker.

For Paytm, the December quarter wasn’t about announcing a new product or entering a new market. It was about reopening a business lever that had remained constrained for months: merchant onboarding.

During Q3 FY26, Paytm Payment Services Ltd (PPSL), the wholly owned subsidiary of One 97 Communications Ltd., secured all key payment aggregator licences from the Reserve Bank of India. The approvals cover online, offline, and cross-border payment aggregation, effectively restoring PPSL’s ability to operate across India’s merchant payments stack.

The immediate result: Paytm has resumed onboarding online merchants and is preparing to scale its omni-channel payments offering.

Paytm Gets Green Light on Key Licences

The licences arrive after a period where Paytm’s payments arm operated under tight regulatory scrutiny. In its Q3 earnings release, the company said the approvals reflect regulatory confidence in its governance framework, operational controls, and compliance standards.

Paytm confirmed that regulatory changes affecting rent payments via credit cards and the real money gaming sector had an “insignificant impact” on its business. According to the company, its revenue streams remained unaffected following RBI actions in 2024, indicating that process alignment had already taken place.

For enterprise and online merchants, this matters less as a headline and more as a signal: the pipes are open again.

Paytm Sharpens Merchant Game Plan

Online merchant onboarding isn’t just a volume game anymore. The economics have changed.

During the Q3 earnings call, management pointed to sharper execution and merchant monetisation as the next growth phase. Sharma, who has taken on the role of CEO of Paytm Payment Services Ltd, laid out the playbook:

> “At PPSL, we are now driving sharper execution across payments and merchant monetisation. We are re-building sales capacity in a business and evolving it into a true omni-channel offering.”

This suggests a shift from rapid merchant acquisition to deeper engagement, combining online, offline, and value-added payment services such as EMI.

For a mid-sized online retailer, this could mean handling shopfront payments, QR-based offline transactions, and consumer financing through a single platform. That consolidation improves merchant stickiness and opens up monetisation levers beyond basic transaction fees.

Online merchant onboarding isn’t just a volume game anymore. The economics have changed.

During the Q3 earnings call, management pointed to sharper execution and merchant monetisation as the next growth phase. Sharma, who has taken on the role of CEO of Paytm Payment Services Ltd, laid out the playbook:

> “At PPSL, we are now driving sharper execution across payments and merchant monetisation. We are re-building sales capacity in a business and evolving it into a true omni-channel offering.”

This suggests a shift from rapid merchant acquisition to deeper engagement, combining online, offline, and value-added payment services such as EMI.

For a mid-sized online retailer, this could mean handling shopfront payments, QR-based offline transactions, and consumer financing through a single platform. That consolidation improves merchant stickiness and opens up monetisation levers beyond basic transaction fees.

Profitability Adds Weight To The Strategy

Paytm’s regulatory progress coincides with sustained financial improvement.

In Q3 FY26, the company reported a profit after tax of ₹225 crore, marking its third consecutive profitable quarter. The company attributed this to growth in core payments and financial services, better operating leverage, and disciplined cost management.

This matters because rebuilding sales capacity and expanding merchant services require capital and patience. A profitable base gives Paytm room to invest without chasing unsustainable growth.

AI Moves Into The Background

While product announcements often grab attention, Paytm’s quieter AI deployment may prove more consequential.

The company said it has deployed artificial intelligence to strengthen internal controls, improve collections, and enhance operational efficiency. The impact is measurable: indirect expenses declined 7% year-on-year during the quarter.

In practical terms, this could mean faster merchant risk assessment, automated compliance checks, and tighter control over settlement and reconciliation, all critical for a payment aggregator operating under regulatory oversight.

What stands out in this phase of Paytm’s journey is restraint.  There is no talk of aggressive market entry or sweeping platform reinvention. Instead, the focus is on execution: scaling merchant onboarding, rebuilding sales teams, and improving monetisation across an omni-channel stack.

For India’s B2B payments ecosystem, Paytm’s Q3 marks a shift from regulatory repair to operational rebuilding. Whether this translates into sustained merchant growth will depend less on licences, now secured, and more on how effectively Paytm converts compliance into confidence at the merchant level.

For now, the company has done the hardest part: earning its way back into the game.