RBI regulated Payment Aggregators Exempt from GST

GST Council in it’s 55th Meeting has clarified that RBI regulated Payment Aggregators are eligible for the exemption under entry at Sl. No. 34 of notification No. 12/2017-CT(R) dated 28.06.2017 since they fall within the ambit of ‘acquiring bank’ as defined in the said entry.

As per Entry at Sl. No. 34 of notification No. 12/2017-CT(R) dated 28.06.2017: Services by an acquiring bank, to any person in relation to settlement of an amount upto two thousand rupees in a single transaction transacted through credit card, debit card, charge card or other payment card service are exempt from GST.

Definition of acquiring bank

For the purposes of this entry, “acquiring bank” means any banking company, financial institution including non-banking financial company or any other person, who makes the payment to any person who accepts such card.

Difference between Payment Aggregators and Payment Gateway:

The Council further added that this exemption does not cover payment gateway (PG) and other fintech services which do not involve settlement of funds.