PINELABS

March 27 (Reuters) -

• INDIA CENBANK: IMPOSES MONETARY PENALTY OF 310,000 RUPEES ON PINE LABS

• RBI: IMPOSES PENALTY ON PINE LABS FOR NON-COMPLIANCE WITH CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF DIRECTIONS ON PREPAID PAYMENT INSTRUMENTS

Further company coverage: PINL.NS

((Reuters.Briefs@thomsonreuters.com;))

** Shares of Pine Labs PINL.NS up 2.8% at 179.5 rupees

** UBS initiates coverage on fintech platform with "Buy" and a target price of 250 rupees, implying an upside of 43% from stock's last close

** Brokerage says Pine Labs maintains a strong large-enterprise franchise with a durable moat driven by scale and deep integration with banks, OEMs, and merchants

** UBS says as Pine Labs' point-of-sale business has transitioned from hyper growth to industry aligned growth, its focus has shifted to monetising existing base

** Adds incremental growth to come from EMI financing and deeper penetration into non-electronics consumer categories

** Estimates revenue growth to sustain at an estimated ~20% CAGR over FY2026–FY2028, and says the current ~45% valuation discount to Paytm looks unjustified given Pine Labs' stronger profitability and improving earnings quality

** YTD, stock down 25%

(Reporting by Mridula Kumar in Bengaluru)

((Mridula.Kumar@thomsonreuters.com;))

By Ashwin Manikandan and Jaspreet Kalra

MUMBAI, March 2 (Reuters) - Pine Labs PINL.NS will launch a stablecoin-backed prepaid card across nine countries in the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia by the end of April, the fintech firm's chief executive told Reuters, marking the first attempt by an Indian payments major to tap the fast‑growing market.

The Temasek and Peak XV-backed company aims to launch in countries that have a "stablecoin-friendly stance", Amrish Rau said in an interview on Friday, without specifying which countries they would launch in.

Pine Labs does not plan to launch the product in India or China, Rau said.

The prepaid card, funded with stablecoins from consumers' digital wallets, will enable payments in local currencies through real-time conversion at the point of sale, the CEO said.

Global payment firms Stripe, PayPal PYPL.O and Klarna KLAR.N are already using stablecoins to facilitate cross-border payments as the instruments gain wider acceptance in emerging markets, topping $310 billion in market value, led by U.S. dollar-pegged tokens Tether and USDC.

“Cross‑border payments potentially are getting replaced today by stablecoins... these are very real trends which are taking off globally and we are absolutely building for it,” Pine Labs' Rau said.

The firm's plan to launch the stablecoin-backed prepaid card, the first such initiative by a listed Indian firm, has not been reported previously.

While India does not prohibit stablecoins, the local central bank has cautioned the instruments could weaken monetary policy management and promote illegal payments. Indian banks and payments firms such as Walmart-backed PhonePe PHOP.NS and Paytm PAYT.NS do not offer stablecoin-backed payments.

China last month banned unauthorised offshore issuance of yuan-pegged stablecoins and is cracking down on virtual currencies.

TECH-FOCUSED APPROACH

Headquartered in India's national capital region, Pine Labs offers payment solutions including point-of-sale machines to merchants for card payments.

The fintech firm's shares have fallen about 28% since their trading debut in November amid increased competition in the digital payments sector, according to analysts.

Pine Labs has been expanding its footprint with clients in about 20 countries, with the overseas business adding up to about 17% of its revenue, Rau said. The firm's gross revenue rose 24% on year to 7.44 billion rupees ($81.4 million) in the December quarter.

The firm seeks to focus on AI-based payments, cross-border expansion and stablecoin experiments, Rau said.

“All tech companies are into stablecoins, they are into AI, they are into cross‑border. That’s the way to go... If you don’t capture that opportunity, Indian fintechs are going to get left behind."

($1 = 91.4300 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Ashwin Manikandan and Jaspreet Kalra in Mumbai; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)

((Ashwin.Manikandan@thomsonreuters.com;))

Feb 23 (Reuters) - Pine Labs Ltd PINL.NS:

• PINE LABS AWARDED MULTI-YEAR CONTRACTS BY 3 INDIAN OMCS

• CONTRACTS FROM BPCL, HPCL, AND IOCL

Source text: ID:nnAZN4SHR2B

Further company coverage: PINL.NS

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Feb 5 (Reuters) - Pine Labs Ltd PINL.NS:

• PINE LABS LTD - GETS TOTAL TAX DEMAND FOR 373.3 MILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nNSE1jRSLz

Further company coverage: PINL.NS

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Jan 28 (Reuters) - Pine Labs Ltd PINL.NS:

• PINE LABS Q3 CONSOL PROFIT 423.9 MILLION RUPEES

• PINE LABS Q3 CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 7.44 BILLION RUPEES

Further company coverage: PINL.NS

((reuters.briefs@thomsonreuters.com;))

Jan 26 (Reuters) - Pine Labs Ltd PINL.NS:

• PINE LABS LTD - WIO BANK PARTNERS WITH CO

Source text: ID:nNSE8nvkP

Further company coverage: PINL.NS

((Reuters.Briefs@thomsonreuters.com;))

Jan 23 (Reuters) - Pine Labs Ltd PINL.NS:

• PINE LABS LTD - INVESTS 639.9 MILLION RUPEES IN BROKENTUSK TECHNOLOGIES

Further company coverage: PINL.NS

((Reuters.Briefs@thomsonreuters.com;))

Jan 20 (Reuters) - Pine Labs Ltd PINL.NS:

• RBI APPROVES UNIT SETU'S PROPOSAL TO BUY 100% STAKE IN AGYA TECHNOLOGIES

Source text: ID:nNSE1sJSMy

Further company coverage: PINL.NS

((Reutersbriefs@thomsonreuters.com;))