NEW DELHI: Hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed against the unauthorised operation of Google Pay (GPay), Google’s payment arm, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought a response from the Reserve Bank of India as well as Google India Digital Services Private Limited on the matter. The petitioner, financial economist Abhijit Mishra, alleged that GPay is not listed as an authorised operator in the Reserve Bank’s (RBI) catalogue of ‘Payment System Operators’ released on March 20, 2019; and hence, it’s functioning without requisite approval.
The court has issued notices to the RBI and Google India seeking their stand on the plea. “How are they (GPay) operating without permission?” a bench headed by Delhi High Court Chief Justice Rajendra Menon asked RBI. It has posted the matter for further hearing on April 29.
Mishra said in his plea that he is “very much concerned for the welfare of Indian economic and banking system in view of the privacy of Indian citizens” and that through the PIL, he wants to highlight that Google India Digital Services Private Limited is doing business as GPay in “unauthorised operation in India… in defiance of the Section 4 Sub Section 1 of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.”
The petitioner also added that Google India has managed unauthorised access to personal information, such as Aadhaar and PAN, of the public by acting as a Payment and Settlement System. The PIL has sought a direction to RBI to order Google to “immediately” stop GPay’s “unauthorised operation” in India.
Meanwhile, Google said in a statement that GPay complies with all applicable legal requirements. “Google Pay operates as a technology service provider to its partner banks, to allow for payments through the UPI infrastructure, and is not part of payment processing or settlement,” a company spokesperson said.
He added that there is no requirement for licensing of these services under the prevailing statutory and regulatory provisions.
“In order to support our partner banks, our efforts in complying with the government’s data localisation norms are underway, and given the scale and complexity, we are being mindful to prioritise data security and uninterrupted services to our users as we make this transition. The central bank is apprised of the progress and we remain committed to complying with the laws of the land,” the spokesperson said.
Google has tie-ups with HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Federal Bank for its payments operations in India.