(Alliance News) - Boku Inc on Tuesday said its Indian entity Boku Network Services IN Pvt Ltd has received an in-principle authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India to operate as a payment aggregator in the south Asian country.

The San Francisco, California-based mobile payment solutions provider said it expects this approval to accelerate growth in local payment acceptance via Boku Network Services, allowing for greater choice for Indian consumers.

It said it follows continued investment by the group in India, having operated in its domestic market for more than 10 years. It also noted its Mumbai office is one of its largest global offices by headcount.

Boku claimed to lead the world in local payments and labelled the RBI-sponsored unified payments interface of "acting as a global trend-setter".

It also said it shares the RBI's vision of "e-payments for everyone, everywhere, everytime", and that its payment aggregator approval supports this.

"India will soon be the country with the largest population in the world and has a well-established local payments market," said Boku Chief Executive Officer Jon Prideaux.

"The RBI granting to Boku [Network Services] IN the in-principle authorisation to operate as a payment aggregator is an important achievement for Boku in a large and rapidly growing market, enabling us to help our customers reach new Indian consumers who increasingly rely on local digital payment methods."

Shares in Boku were up 1.7% to 150.00 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.

By Greg Rosenvinge, Alliance News reporter

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