Udaan, a Bengaluru-based B2B e-commerce platform in India, is strengthening its in-house payment infrastructure via its group entity Hiveloop Internet Private Ltd (HIPL) after securing a Payment Aggregator license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). This move, aimed at reducing reliance on external partners like Yes Bank, is expected to improve operational control and cost efficiency across Udaan’s vast network of retailers and sellers.
Udaan, one of India’s largest B2B e-commerce platforms headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, has received a Payment Aggregator license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for its group entity Hiveloop Internet Private Ltd (HIPL). This regulatory approval will allow the company to directly handle merchant onboarding, payment collections, settlements, and reconciliation within its own digital infrastructure.
The move is a part of Udaan’s broader strategy to reduce external dependencies and improve cost control and operational efficiency. Presently, Udaan uses Yes Bank as its official payment aggregator. However, transaction flows are now expected to gradually shift to HIPL’s ecosystem.
HIPL’s infrastructure currently caters to Udaan’s internal network of over 30 lakh retailers and more than 2 lakh sellers. The platform offers APIs for UPI, debit/credit cards, net banking, RTGS/NEFT, and virtual account-based reconciliation. While the payments setup is restricted to internal operations for now, HIPL’s risk controls, including KYC and anti-money laundering measures, position it for third-party merchant onboarding in the future.
By managing payments in-house, Udaan is expected to significantly reduce transaction costs—typically ranging from 0.5% to 2% on high-volume platforms—and streamline internal workflows. The integration also aligns with Udaan’s earlier efforts to consolidate credit operations under Hiveloop Capital Pvt Ltd (HCPL), its NBFC arm under the Udaan Capital division, which now sees 64% of loans coming from off-platform financing.
In a strategic move earlier this year, Udaan completed a corporate restructuring to bring commerce, logistics, payments, and lending under one roof—Hiveloop Ecommerce Pvt Ltd. The restructuring, approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), simplifies operations and boosts the company’s capital-raising capabilities ahead of a potential IPO by 2026.
Udaan recently closed its Series G funding round at USD 114 million, led by M&G Investments and Lightspeed, and is expanding its private-label business in core categories such as staples.
With this step, Udaan joins the ranks of players like Amazon, which runs Amazon Pay, and Flipkart, which uses a hybrid of internal and external payment systems to manage its transactions.
