Merchant Onboarding Policy : Cash Friend Fintech Private Limited – PayFi

This document aims to elaborate on Cash Friend Fintech Private Limited board-approved policies for onboarding merchants to the PayfFi Platform.

All of the above policy matters bind all participants i.e. the Customer, Merchant and Cash Friend Fintech Private Limited (‘Payment Aggregator’ or ‘PayFi’) and shall contain a detailed explanation merchant onboarding mechanism and documentation required for the same.

This policy documents will be updated whenever there is a change in process initiated by PayFi or based on notifications from the RBI.

The policies framed here are based on Reserve Bank of India’s circular for guidelines on Regulation of Payment Aggregators and Payment Gateways. The guidelines are issued under Section 18 read with Section 10(2) of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.

  1. Sign Up – Merchant sign up on portal, OTP and Email Verification
  2. Identity Verification/KYC – Capturing personal and business details of the merchant. The merchant needs to provide company details as per annexure A along with personal Pan Card, Aadhaar card, Website/Application details etc. PayFi will collect documents for the purpose of KYC, from the Merchant which has to be on-boarded on the PayFi Platform. The documents that are collected are for enabling PayFi to undertake background and antecedent checks of the Merchants to ensure on a best effort basis that such merchants do not have any mala fide intentions of duping customers, selling fake / counterfeit prohibited products. The documents to be collected will be communicated to the Merchant and will depend on the constitution of the Merchant and can be broadly classified as:

Merchant Covenants

The Merchant needs to do the following:

  • Undertake as part of the contract that merchant does not have any mala fide intention of duping the customer and does not sell Fake / Counterfeit / Prohibited products.
  • The Merchant’s website/app shall clearly indicate the terms and conditions of the service.
  • The Merchant’s website/app needs to clearly indicate timelines for processing refunds and returns.
  • Undertake that the Merchant will not store any customer payment related data like Card#, Internet Banking Username etc. on their website/app.
  • The Merchant shall protect customer’s personal data and report any incident of data breach / fraud committed.
  • The Merchant will submit prescribed document and basis the documents submitted, following checks will be usually carried out:
    • Verification of documents against MCA (Ministry of Corporate Affairs) Website
    • PAN verification
    • GST Verification
    • MOA object check

A Merchant can be declined when any one of the following becomes true:

  • Incomplete documents
  • Website is not up and running or is a beta site.
  • Digital certificates are invalid on the website.
  • Physical verification fails.
  • Documents submitted are not in order and correct documents are not received even on request.
  • Indicated ticket size of transactions is abnormally high.
  • Transaction size does not match with the pricing of goods/services mentioned on the website.
  • International card acceptance.
  • Goods / Services sold are from the restricted list as per Government of India.
  • Merchant falls in the restricted MCC list

Merchant documentation

Following is a list of documents (mandatory and optional), which needs to be collected from the Merchant to establish Merchant Identity and KYC Checks.

Type of Merchant   List of documents to be collected
Sole Proprietor General Documents: Mandatory Documents: Merchant Contract (Signed and stamped).Cancelled Cheque / Bank account details and IFSC code issued against the Bank Account. Optional Documents: Purchase Order (Original, Date, Authorized signatory sign). KYC Documents: Mandatory Documents: Proprietor PAN Proprietor Aadhaar GST Certificate Authorized signatory ID and Address Proof (Self Attested copy of PAN Card and Passport / Driving License / XML of Aadhaar Card)  
Partnership General Documents: Mandatory Documents: Merchant Contract (Signed and stamped).Cancelled Cheque / Bank account details and IFSC code issued against the Bank Account. Optional Documents :Purchase Order (Original, Date, Authorized signatory sign). KYC Documents: Mandatory Documents: Registration Certificate Company PAN Partnership Deed GST Certificate Authorized signatory ID and Address Proof (Self Attested copy of PAN Card and Passport / Driving License / XML of Aadhaar Card)Declaration of authorized signatory (On company letterhead signed by all partners)
Private Limited / Public Limited Company General Documents: Mandatory Documents: Merchant Contract (Signed and stamped).Cancelled Cheque / Bank account details and IFSC code issued against the Bank Account. Optional Documents:Purchase Order (Original, Date, Authorized signatory sign). KYC Documents: Mandatory:Memorandum and Articles of AssociationIncorporation CertificateCompany PAN GST Registration CertificateA resolution from the Board of Directors and power of attorney granted to its managers, officers, or employees to transact on its behalf. Board Resolution to be signed by 2 Directors or the Company SecretaryList of directors to be identified (For Pvt. Ltd. Only)Directors/Authorized signatory ID and Address Proof (Self Attested copy of PAN Card and Passport / Driving License / XML of Aadhaar Card)  
Government Entity (Including Company/Corporation/Department) General Documents: Mandatory Documents:Merchant Contract (Signed and stamped).Cancelled Cheque / Bank account details and IFSC code issued against the Bank Account. Optional Documents:Purchase Order (Original, Date, Authorized signatory sign). KYC Documents: Mandatory:Memorandum and Articles of AssociationIncorporation CertificateCompany PAN / GST registration numberA resolution from the Board of Directors and power of attorney granted to its managers, officers, or employees to transact on its behalf.  Board Resolution to be signed by 2 Directors or the Company SecretaryAuthorized signatory ID and Address Proof (Self Attested copy of PAN Card and Passport / Driving License / XML of Aadhaar Card)
Trust General Documents: Mandatory Documents:Merchant Contract (Signed and stamped).Cancelled Cheque / Bank account details and IFSC code issued against the Bank Account. Optional Documents:Purchase Order (Original, Date, Authorized signatory sign). KYC Documents: Mandatory:Registration certificateTrust deedPermanent Account Number of the TrustDeclaration of authorized signatory (On trust letterhead signed by all members)ID and Address Proof of all Partners/Trustees and Beneficial Owners (Self Attested copy of PAN Card and Passport / Driving License / XML of Aadhaar Card)