Google Pay Legal in India, Clarifies Company

NEW DELHI: A statement from the Reserve Bank of India led to some confusion among its users and some are believing that GPay is not legal in India and people are doing transactions through it is risky.

With this now, Google India has issued a long statement to clear the confusion. The company says:

Google Pay operates completely within the law. Google Pay works as a technology service provider to partner banks, to allow payments via UPI. UPI apps in the country are categorized as 'third party apps', and are not required to be 'payment systems operators'.

All transactions made via Google Pay are fully protected by redressal processes laid out by applicable guidelines of the RBI/NPCI, and users can reach out for any help 24/7, through Google Pay customer care.

Some quotes on social media, wrongly attributed to the RBI, claim that issues arising while transferring money through Google Pay are not protected by the law, since the app is unauthorized. This is incorrect and can be verified on NPCI's website. RBI has stated no such thing either in the court hearing or in their written response to the HC.

Earlier, the Reserve Bank of India told the Delhi High Court that Google Pay is a third-party app provider, and does not operate any payments systems, which is why it is not enlisted as a payment system operator with the National Payments Corporation of India, reported PTI.

Google Pay's operations do not violate the Payments & Settlements Act, 2007, the RBI said, in response to a petition that argued that Google Pay does not have required authorization from the RBI. The petition was filed by one Abhijit Mishra, via advocate Payal Bahl. The RBI was represented by senior advocate V Giri, per the Economic Times.

The bench consisting of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Prateek Jalan has called for a detailed hearing on the matter, as it affects other third-party apps. The case will now be heard on July 22. MediaNama has not independently reviewed the court's order.

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