Skydo gets final IFSCA approval as GIFT City payment provider
Skydo announced on October 27 that it has received final authorization from the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) to operate as a Payment Service Provider (PSP) at GIFT City's International Financial Services Centre (IFSC).
The approval follows the in-principle authorization granted in May 2026. It allows the Bengaluru-based fintech to develop payment products from GIFT City, including multi-currency accounts, merchant acquiring, international collections and settlement infrastructure.
Skydo plans IFSC-based multi-currency accounts for eligible Indian exporters. Today, many businesses convert overseas receipts into rupees shortly after receiving them, which can be inconvenient for companies that also need to make payments in foreign currencies.
The proposed accounts are intended to let eligible businesses collect and hold foreign currency, use those funds for permitted overseas payments, or convert them into rupees when required, subject to applicable foreign exchange and IFSC regulations.
Skydo also plans payment infrastructure for investment platforms, trade finance providers and other financial institutions operating from GIFT City. One potential area is supporting platforms that offer Indian investors access to overseas assets, including US equities.
Another is providing collection and settlement capabilities for businesses involved in export factoring and trade finance. Export factoring allows companies to obtain financing against receivables owed by overseas buyers. Skydo is also exploring escrow and settlement services where permitted under the regulatory framework.
Skydo currently serves more than 50,000 businesses, including exporters, freelancers and startups, according to the company. It supports payment collections from more than 150 countries across over 32 currencies and reports processing more than $1 billion in annualized payment volume. That figure represents the annualized value of payments handled through its platform, not the company's revenue.
The authorization enables Skydo to develop these services; it does not mean that every proposed product is already available to customers.
Newsletter
The corridor, every morning.
Funding rounds and cross-border capital moves, one email, five minutes.
Skydo has not announced a launch date, pricing structure or detailed eligibility requirements for the multi-currency accounts. Product availability and transaction fees are also yet to be announced.
The IFSCA authorization adds to Skydo's existing regulatory approvals in India and Canada. The company holds final authorization from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as a Payment Aggregator-Cross Border (PA-CB) for export collections. It has also received RBI approval for outward payments under the PA-CB framework.
The two regulatory frameworks serve different purposes. RBI's PA-CB framework governs eligible cross-border payment aggregation activities, while the IFSCA authorization provides a framework for developing permitted payment services in or from GIFT City's international financial center.
In Canada, the company says it holds Money Services Business registration with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) and final approval from the Bank of Canada under the Retail Payment Activities Act.
The company has also established a dedicated leadership team at GIFT City. Shekhar Tejwani has joined as Principal Officer, while Nayan Nitesh has been appointed Compliance Officer.
Expanding from cross-border collections to multi-currency accounts and settlement infrastructure will bring different operational requirements. The company will need to establish the necessary banking and financial institution relationships, manage foreign currency flows and demonstrate that its services can operate reliably within the applicable regulatory framework.
Its ability to deliver these capabilities at competitive costs will be important for smaller businesses that may already have access to international payment services through banks and other fintech platforms.
Prashanth Kumar, Head of Banking & Enterprise Business Development at Skydo, said: "GIFT City is a natural next step for Skydo. Firstly, it complements the payments infrastructure we have built in India and globally, allowing us to bring multi-currency products to Indian businesses to collect, maintain and pay."
More in Policy
