India's NPCI to approve Paytm request for third-party application license this week, sources say

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The National Payments Corp of India (NPCI) is likely to approve a third-party application provider license for Paytm, formally known as One 97 Communications, by March 15, three sources directly aware of the development said on Tuesday.

The central bank is unlikely to extend the deadline of March 15 set for Paytm's banking unit, Paytm Payments Bank, to wind down its operations, one of the above sources and a fourth source aware of the central bank's thinking said.

The third-party application provider license will allow customers to continue using the Paytm app to make payments via India's popular unified payment interface after the banking arm winds down.

(Reporting by Siddhi Nayak, Jaspreet Kalra and Ira Dugal; Editing by Swati Bhat and Mrigank Dhaniwala)