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Starting a digital payments service in Indian comes with its fair share of caveats and controversies.
Google’s payment platform in India, Google Pay has been accused by rival service Paytm of sharing consumer data with group companies and third-party service providers. The complaint has been sent to the with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in the form of a letter. But is it really?
In an exclusive report by moneycontrol.com, Paytm alleges that Google's privacy policy allows the company to collect, store, use and disclose its users’ personal data for advertising and promotional purposes. Paytm has urged NPCI to look into the matter and “revisit the Payment policy of Google Pay for India”.
Both NPCI and Paytm representatives have verified the authenticity of the letter.
This isn’t the first time that Paytm is crying foul about a rival payment service.
Couple of months ago, WhatsApp too was dragged into an ugly debate involving its payments services and that it was sharing sensitive consumer data. The messaging platform has stalled the launch of its payments platform owing to a push for data localisation.
In the letter to the NPCI about Google Pay, Paytm raises concerns over three primary issues:
Paytm also referred to Google as an “unregulated platform” citing Google could use the consumers’ data for monetary gains and also affecting the privacy of Indian users & the security of the country.
Perhaps the biggest concern for Paytm is the unfair advantage that Google Pay has over its rivals, which is why it is pushing the matter and requesting NPCI to look into the matter.
Paytm’s concerns are justified as some of Google’s privacy policies are alarming when you consider the company is handling sensitive user data.
To know more about what this means for you, here’s a look at some of Google Pay’s privacy policies:
Perhaps the one point that users should be most concerned about is:
To have an in-depth look at Google terms of services, you can read the full list here.
Google has come out with its own rebuttal addressing some of the serious allegations against it. In a statement to Medianama, the company has said that it has all the checks in place to ensure the customer data is protected.
A Google spokesperson also went on to add that the company isn’t using any user data for monetary benefits.
Google is a third-party service provider hence it is not directly controlled by Reserve Bank of India. On the flipside other digital wallets and payment banks are under the strict vigilance and control of the Reserve Bank of India under its payment policies. Would you say Google has an upper hand here? Some would. But Paytm does have a point too.
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