BENGALURU (Reuters) - Prosus-backed PayU Payments said on Tuesday it had received the Reserve Bank of India's in-principle approval to operate as a payment aggregator and onboard new merchants onto its platform.

The approval comes days after the RBI took steps to tighten scrutiny of the payments sector, asking online payment firms to monitor transactions-related activities of merchants on their platforms and ensure they meet fresh guidelines.

The RBI's approval is "a testament to our relentless focus on compliance and corporate governance", PayU CEO Anirban Mukherjee said in a statement.

PayU is a payment gateway that also offers services including buy-now-pay-later, and competes with the likes of Tiger Global-backed Razorpay and Walmart-owned PhonePe.

(Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)