Razorpay Strengthens Southeast Asia Wager with Singapore Foray

Razorpay, a fintech firm, has announced an expansion into Singapore, its second market in Southeast Asia after Malaysia.

According to a statement released on Thursday, Razorpay plans to replicate its success in Singapore after local businesses in Malaysia experienced lower transaction costs and faster settlements. To ensure seamless integration and compliance within Singapore's financial landscape, Razorpay will work closely with banks, financial institutions, and regulatory bodies.

Businesses in Singapore can now access Razorpay Singapore's suite of services, which includes a payment gateway, cross-border transaction solutions, and real-time financial analytics. Additionally, the company plans to launch Curlec, an international payment gateway, in Singapore to increase its presence in Southeast Asian markets.

According to the company, Curlec, a Malaysian company that Razorpay acquired and launched in July 2023, is expanding at a rate of 30% per month.

By 2030, Razorpay anticipates that the digital payments ecosystem in Southeast Asia will have grown to a size of over $2 trillion in transactions. With a 97% digital payment penetration rate, Singapore is predicted to lead the way because of its aggressive push for cashless transactions. The company predicts that the city state's e-commerce market will almost double to $40 billion in the next three years, while the value of cashless payments will double to $180 billion by 2029.

The company announced the launch of a suite of payment solutions to enable businesses to scale quickly with real-time payments and reduce cross-border transaction fees by 30-40% to effectively navigate an increasingly competitive global market.

According to Razorpay, businesses in Singapore currently pay between 4-6% per transaction for cross-border payments, which limits their scalability. Small businesses continue to struggle with fragmented payment systems in other Asian markets, which raise transaction fees and limit access to real-time payments, creating additional barriers to expanding reach, the report stated.

Razorpay's payment technology platform for Singapore will enable real-time multi-currency transactions.

Razorpay, founded in 2014 by Kumar and Harshil Mathur and incorporated in the United States, is also returning to India to eventually list on public markets.