Ebanx has signed a deal with Yes Bank | allow RuPay Card, UPI for cross-border payments

Ebanx has signed a deal with Yes Bank | allow RuPay Card, UPI for cross-border payments:

Brazilian payments major Ebanx has signed a deal with Yes Bank to set up a cross-border merchant payment infrastructure in India for global brands looking to sell to consumers here.

Indian consumers can use the Ebanx system to pay for such purchases with local currency using local payment methods including card payment modes including RuPay cards and Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

“We have partnered with Yes Bank, to enable our platform to provide access to Indian consumers to global brands who want to sell in India…(and for) digital services and goods merchants who are looking to expand into the Indian market,” said Paula Bellizia, president, global payments, at Ebanx.

Ebanx works with around 300 brands, helping them process payments in multiple countries across Latin America and Africa.

Now, the company wants to add India to the list, as its first market in Asia.

“We are starting with digital services, SaaS (software as a service) companies streaming all the global brands around those verticals. We are (also) bullish about education platforms looking to sell these services,” Bellizia said.

Founded in 2012 in Brazil, Ebanx has raised more than $400 million over three major equity investments from the likes of Advent International and FTV Capital. After reaching a billion-dollar valuation in 2019, the company had planned a public listing, but that was eventually shelved in 2022.

The company entered Africa in September 2022 and announced its India plans in 2023.

Bellizia had told Reuters in 2023 that an IPO could still happen in the United States, but a lot depended on its business in India.

While the company has not applied for a payment aggregator cross-border (PA-CB) licence from the Indian central bank right away, Bellizia said she is keeping a close tab on the regulatory requirements and will follow up on a need to have the licence.

Over the last few months, it has integrated with the systems of Yes Bank to finally launch its payment stack for Indian consumers. Ebanx processes transactions for large global merchants like Spotify and Airbnb.

Ebanx intends to replicate its success in Brazilian instant payment platform Pix in India, by riding on the UPI settlement railroad.

“Ebanx is one of the best players in Pix in Brazil. Because of our highly successful stories in Brazil, we are hopeful of doing well in India too. Pix is inspired by UPI, we understand how to operate an alternative payment method,” Bellizia said.

Ebanx joins the group of large global merchant payment processors like PayPal, Stripe, and PayU to operate in India. While PayU has tasted success in domestic payments in India, PayPal is restricted to cross-border payments only. Other popular global fintech players like Revolut and Tide also operate in the Indian market, but with limited success.

Bellizia said unlike other global players, the experience of Ebanx in other developing markets will help it scale up operations in the Indian market.

Currently the company has a small team in India, which is supporting the local business. The senior leadership at Ebanx is yet to finalise the staff strength they want in India.