Razorpay Wins Final GIFT City Licence to Move Money Into and Out of India, Opening a New Route for Global Investing and Cross-Border Payments

Razorpay, one of India's largest payment companies, has received final regulatory approval to operate as a payment service provider in GIFT City, Gujarat, giving it a single licence to move money into and out of India and expanding its reach into the fast-growing market for cross-border payments and overseas investing.

The company received a final Payment Service Provider (PSP) licence from the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), the regulator for India's international financial services centre, according to Indian Startup News, which reported the development on Monday, November 2. The approval follows an in-principle clearance in April 2026.

The licence allows Razorpay to move money into and out of India from GIFT City "under a single regulatory framework," according to the report, enabling services such as global investing for Indian residents, international collections and settlements, multi-currency transactions and foreign currency transfers.

What the licence enables

Razorpay said it has already integrated with RBL Bank and ICICI Bank for the service, and that key investment platforms are expected to go live soon. Its infrastructure will allow investment platforms to integrate once and offer overseas investing to their customers in compliance with India's Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and GIFT City regulations.

The company said this could cut integration timelines for investment platforms from several months to two to three weeks. Razorpay also plans to offer services to non-resident Indians (NRIs) in the future.

Filling a regulatory gap

The GIFT City licence complements Razorpay's existing cross-border approvals. In December 2025, the company received a Payment Aggregator-Cross Border (PA-CB) licence from the Reserve Bank of India, covering export and import payments. That licence allows Indian businesses to receive payments in more than 130 currencies, and its users include Airbnb, Agoda, Klook, Hostinger and Shopify, according to Indian Startup News.

However, the PA-CB licence covers only current-account transactions, which involve trade in goods and services. It does not cover capital-account flows, such as investments abroad. The IFSCA PSP licence covers both, filling an important gap in Razorpay's offering.

In August 2026, Razorpay also launched a multi-currency account for exporters, allowing them to hold US dollars, euros, British pounds, UAE dirhams and Singapore dollars instead of converting all receipts into rupees.

How the IFSCA framework works

The IFSCA (Payment Services) Regulations, 2024, notified on January 29, 2024, cover five types of payment services: account issuance, e-money issuance, escrow, cross-border money transfer and merchant acquisition, according to Indian Startup News.

Approval comes in two stages: an in-principle approval, followed by a Certificate of Authorisation once conditions are met. Razorpay now holds the latter. Regular PSPs must have a minimum net worth of $100,000 at the start, rising to $200,000 by the end of their third financial year, while significant PSPs face higher thresholds.

A growing market

The licence comes as Indians are investing abroad in increasing numbers. Under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), resident individuals can send up to $250,000 abroad each financial year for permitted purposes, including investments, education, travel and gifts.

Indian residents invested $2.65 billion in overseas stocks and debt in the financial year 2025-26, up 56% from the previous year, according to Reserve Bank of India data cited by Indian Startup News. Total LRS outward remittances fell nearly 2% to $28.98 billion in FY26, as spending on overseas education declined, but investment flows grew strongly. Data released on November 2 showed LRS outflows of $20.09 billion in the first eight months of 2026, with foreign equity and debt investments rising about 86% from a year earlier.

Platforms offering Indians access to US stocks, such as Vested, INDmoney and others, have grown rapidly, but the process of moving money abroad has often been slow and cumbersome, involving multiple banks and intermediaries. Razorpay aims to simplify this process.

The competition

Razorpay is not alone in pursuing GIFT City licences. Vested Finance's GIFT City entity, Vested Payments IFSC Private Limited, received IFSCA PSP authorisation in July, according to Indian Startup News. Other fintech companies, including Decentro, Skydo and Infibeam's subsidiary, have also obtained PSP licences in GIFT City, reflecting growing interest in the centre as a hub for cross-border financial services.

GIFT City's ambitions

GIFT City, short for Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, is India's first international financial services centre. The government has sought to develop it as a competitor to global financial hubs such as Singapore and Dubai, offering tax incentives, a unified regulator and a framework for international financial transactions. Banks, insurers, fund managers, stock exchanges and fintech companies have set up operations there.

The growth of payment services in GIFT City is part of a broader effort to bring cross-border financial activity onshore, rather than routing it through overseas centres.

About Razorpay

Razorpay was founded in 2014 by Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar and provides payment and business banking products to Indian businesses. It is backed by investors including GIC, Peak XV Partners, Tiger Global, Y Combinator and Salesforce Ventures. The company has expanded from online payment processing into areas such as business banking, payroll, lending and offline payments.

Razorpay has been preparing for a public listing in India and has moved its domicile back to India from the United States, a step taken by several Indian startups seeking to list on domestic exchanges.

Why it matters

For Indian investors, Razorpay's licence could make it easier, faster and potentially cheaper to invest in global markets. For businesses, it offers a single platform for managing cross-border payments, collections and settlements. For GIFT City, it adds a major fintech player to its growing ecosystem.

The development also reflects the increasing sophistication of India's fintech sector. Having transformed domestic payments through UPI, Indian fintech companies are now turning their attention to cross-border flows, a market that has traditionally been dominated by banks and global payment companies.

Why speed matters

For investment platforms, the time and cost of building cross-border payment connections have been significant barriers. Each platform has typically had to negotiate with banks, manage compliance and build its own technology, a process that can take months.

By offering a single integration that handles regulatory compliance under FEMA and GIFT City rules, Razorpay aims to lower these barriers, potentially allowing more platforms to offer global investing and increasing competition on fees and service.

What comes next

Razorpay will now work to bring investment platforms and businesses onto its GIFT City service. The pace of adoption, the cost of transactions and regulatory developments, including any changes to LRS rules or tax collected at source on overseas remittances, will determine how quickly the market grows. With its licence secured, Razorpay is positioned to become a key gateway for Indians investing abroad.