Is Google Pay banned by RBI in India?

Recently there has been a lot of news and hashtags on twitter about Google Pay banned by the RBI (Reserve Bank Of India).

Google pay

How the news of Google pay banned started?

Abhijit Mishra a financial activist Submitted a PIL in Delhi High court that payment app by Google called Google Pay is carrying UPI transaction violating the RBI guidelines and it does not have adequate authorization from RBI for doing such UPI transactions and thus it violates the Payments and Settlements Act of the country. Also, he added that the Google Pay app is not listed in the NPCI (National Payment Corporation Of India) so it is not a legal UPI payment operator and demanded to be banned.

What is the Google Pay app?

Google Pay is a payment app provided by Google to carry UPI transactions from bank to bank and is one of the most popular payment apps that is used nowadays to transfer money in UPI transaction and it is not only limited to that it also allows the customer to pay bills like Electric bills, Water bills, restaurant bills, Mobile recharge, even Amazon, and Flipkart shopping bills can be paid by google pay. The payment app provides the customer with money rewards in form of scratch coupon.

Is Gpay really banned by RBI?

No, Google pay is not banned in India. And it is totally legal to use it. According to RBI Gpay is a third-party app providing money transfer and it does not operate any payment system Hence it is not violating the Payments and Settlements Act of the country. Moreover, Gpay is not any bank or operating any Payment system so it cannot be added to the list of the NPCI as an authorized payment operator. The bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan said the matter requires a detailed hearing.

What Google Pay has to say in this matter?

Google Pay tweet that they work completely within law and they just provide payment services to the Partner banks via UPI in India and they are categorized as third-party apps and they don't require to be any payment system operator.

Google Pay operates completely within the law. We work 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'.

➡ https://t.co/7sQv2A3mzS

— Google Pay India (@GooglePayIndia) June 24, 2020

Google India also tweeted that all transactions of the Gpay app are fully protected under the guidelines of RBI and NPCI also the payment has the protection of redressal process by the Google pay app itself which means the customer can reach out to Google Pay 24/7 customer care service in case of any help needed or problem.

Google Pay operates completely within the law as a technology service provider to partner banks, to allow payments via UPI. All transactions made via the app are fully protected by redressal processes laid out by applicable guidelines of the RBI/NPCI. https://t.co/BnxZxjEqqK

— Google India (@GoogleIndia) June 26, 2020

Thank you for reading. You can write your views in the comment box whether you use Gpay or not? and also share the news so that everyone gets aware of the matter. Is Google Pay banned by RBI in India?