Bengaluru fintech Razorpay has received its final Payment Service Provider licence from the International Financial Services Centres Authority to operate from GIFT City in Gujarat. The licence was announced on 2 November 2026 and covers cross-border money movement into and out of India under a single regulatory framework.
The approval turns GIFT City into a working base for Razorpay international payments rather than a future plan. It lets the company support foreign currency transfers, multi-currency accounts, international collections, settlements and global investing from one regulated hub.
What the licence unlocks for customers
For Indian residents, the practical change is access to global investing through Indian investment platforms without a separate patchwork of payment, banking and compliance steps. Razorpay says its GIFT City infrastructure brings those pieces together so a platform can integrate once and offer global investing services.
That single integration is the core of the announcement. Razorpay says integration work that typically takes months can now be completed in two to three weeks, which lowers the barrier for investment platforms that want to add overseas stocks and debt for their users.
Banking integrations with RBL Bank and ICICI Bank are already in place, according to the company. Investment platform integrations are expected to go live in the coming weeks, so the first visible products should follow the licence rather than arrive with it.
Why investment platforms come first
Investment platforms are the clearest early use case because global investing needs every part of the chain to work together. A resident buying an overseas security needs a payment, a foreign currency conversion, a compliant settlement and a clear record of the transaction.
Razorpay already facilitates cross-border payments in both directions, with Indian consumers paying global businesses and Indian businesses collecting payments from customers around the world. The GIFT City licence extends that existing strength into a regulated structure built for investment flows.
The infrastructure is designed to operate in line with the Foreign Exchange Management Act and GIFT City regulations. That compliance layer matters for platforms, because it lets them focus on their investment product while Razorpay handles the regulated money movement underneath it.
From in-principle approval to a live hub
The final licence follows in-principle approval granted in April 2026. The seven month gap between the two steps shows the usual sequence for a regulated payments build, with the first approval testing the plan and the final licence authorising live operations.
Rahul Kothari, chief operating officer at Razorpay, has said the licence will allow foreign currency transactions, including holding funds in multi-currency accounts, and support cross-border financial flows. The company has described its GIFT City presence as an important step in strengthening the cross-border payments ecosystem in India.
A company built around money movement
Razorpay was started in 2014 by Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar, two IIT Roorkee alumni. It began as a payment gateway for businesses and grew into a full-stack financial solutions company covering payments, business banking and related services for enterprises across India.
That history helps explain why a cross-border licence fits the company now. Razorpay already sits between businesses, banks and consumers for domestic payments, and the GIFT City hub extends the same role to international flows for Indian residents and businesses.
The test of the licence will be practical rather than ceremonial. The platforms that go live first, the speed of their integrations and the range of global investing products they offer will show whether the single framework delivers the simpler experience Razorpay has promised.
