Razorpay Hires Mastercard Exec To Work With RBI On Payment Regs

Bengaluru-based Razorpay would like to work with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on new regulations that would make it mandatory for payments companies to comply with RBI’s entry point, technology, security, data storage and more.

With that in mind, Razorpay has hired Amitabh Tewary, a vice-president at Mastercard, as its chief innovation officer to help increase its engagement with banks, networks, and regulators. Tewary will be in charge of helping the company expand into other markets, as well as boost the adoption of new payment and banking platforms and products.

“Tewary will also be responsible for dealing with regulators to ensure that we have a voice in how the ecosystem shapes up. So far, we haven’t dealt with the regulator directly, because we were small. Now we have scaled up and are a significantly important player in that space. It is important for us to have a direct voice with our regulator and give our viewpoint on where we think the industry should move, to work with them on the new regulations, and to ensure we abide by it and fall into the framework,” Harshil Mathur, co-founder and chief executive officer of the payments solution company, said in an interview.

“We expect the full one (guidelines) to come out by the end of the financial year. We want to be part of the journey. It is a welcome step. Before that, as payment gateways, we didn’t have a voice on the table. But now, with the regulations coming in, we will be able to work directly with the regulator on some of these things,” he added.

The company has also hired Rahul Kothari of PayU India as its chief business officer.

Mathur noted that Razorpay’s revenue and business volume has grown by “500 percent in the last 12 months,” and he expects it to grow by another 400 percent this year.

“We expect to double the headcount (from 600 at present) in the next one year,” he said.