Head 13 / 20 · IFSCA (Payment Services) Regulations 2024 · Live
Payment Service Providers at GIFT IFSC
Single certificate of authorisation covering five enumerated payment services. Light-touch capital (USD 100k commencement; USD 200k by FY3). Benchmarked against the Singapore PSA 2019, UK PSRs 2017 and EU PSD2. INR holding in e-wallets prohibited; escrow funds must sit in an IBU or IBC. First in-principle approvals: Infibeam Avenues (Oct 2025) and EbixCash World Money (Jan 2026).
Payment Services — The Practitioner's Booklet
A treatise-grade working reference on the licensing, capital, conduct-of-business and tax framework for Payment Services at GIFT IFSC — every conclusion anchored in verbatim statutory and regulatory text.
The case for Payment Services — before the rulebook.
GIFT IFSC competes head-on with Singapore, Dubai and Mauritius — on tax, on currency, and on access to India. Here is what actually moves the decision, before the regulatory detail below.
A 20-year tax holiday
100% deduction on business income for any 20 consecutive years in a 25-year block under Section 147 of the Income-tax Act 2025 (Finance Act 2026), then a 15% concessional rate. MAT capped at 9%.
US-dollar, offshore by law
An IFSC unit is treated as a person resident outside India under FEMA — raise, hold and transact in USD / EUR / GBP, with full foreign-currency freedom and no rupee-conversion drag.
100% foreign & NRI capital
Foreign and NRI investors can hold up to 100% — without the aggregate ownership caps that constrain comparable onshore vehicles.
An on-ramp to India
Unlike a purely offshore hub, GIFT IFSC sits on Indian soil and aligns with national policy — an offshore base that is also a door into one of the world's largest growth markets.
Zero STT, CTT & stamp duty
IFSC-exchange transactions are free of Securities and Commodity Transaction Tax and stamp duty; services rendered by IFSC units are zero-rated for GST.
One regulator, India's rule of law
A single unified regulator (IFSCA) under the IFSCA Act 2019, an independent judiciary, and a treaty-anchored legal order — certainty, not just headline rates.
The opportunity is real, but every benefit carries a condition — and that is where counsel at the threshold earns its place.
The framework — at a glance
Payment Service Provider Category Selector
Map service offering, customer type, funds-holding model and geographic scope to the applicable IFSCA PSP category, net-worth tier, sandbox eligibility, and RBI / FEMA / FATF Travel Rule flags.
IFSCA (Payment Services) Regulations 2024 (Notification IFSCA/GN/2024/002 dated 29 January 2024, consolidated 23 April 2024). Indicative only — not legal advice.
Related reading
- Booklet XX — Payment Service Providers at GIFT IFSC (PDF, May 2026) · Full Firm handbook.
- IFSC Banking Units · Escrow funds must sit in an IBU or IBC; PSP-IBU relationship is operationally central.
- FinTech Entity · PSP applicants at proof-of-concept stage typically route through the FinTech Regulatory Sandbox / Innovation Sandbox.
- Resources page · IFSCA PS Regulations 2024; RBI PA-CB Circular; FATF Recommendation 16.