Google Pay Not Banned: Misleading Hashtag On Social Media Brews Trouble

Google Pay is working just fine and isn't banned by the National Payments Corporation of India. Earlier, a hashtag 'GPay Banned by RBI' started trending on social media. It was followed by reports where the Reserve Bank said that Google Pay wasn't a payment system operator. A few hours later, NPCI confirmed that Google Pay is still authorized, secured, and not banned.

Google Pay Not Banned: Here's What Happened

It started with the financial economist filing a PIL at the Delhi High Court, alleging that Google Pay enabled financial transactions without the authorization from the RBI. Promptly, a hashtag trend kickstarted on Twitter that spread to other social media platforms, that GPay was banned by RBI.

Google Pay Not Banned: RBI Responds

The Reserve Bank of India made a statement at the Delhi High Court in response to the PIL. RBI noted that Google Pay does not operate any payment systems, and that is why its name is not in the list of authorized operators, reports India Today. For the same reason, Google Pay isn't violating the law.

Google Pay Not Banned: NPCI Responds

Following the trending hashtag on social media platforms, NPCI issued a statement notifying that Google Pay was still authorized payments app in the country. The statement further explains that RBI authorized NPCI as a Payments System Operator (PSO). Firms like Google Pay are app providers to the PSO, protecting them under the law.

"We would like to clarify that Google Pay is classified as Third-Party App Provider (TPAP) that also provides UPI payment services like many others, working through banking partners and operating under the UPI framework of NPCI," the statement reads. Also, all the transactions made using the authorized TPAPs are protected by the redressal processes.

However, both RBI and NPCI's statements were subtly ignored by the trending hashtag, further leading to misleading posts on social media. As a conclusion, NPCI clarified that "all transactions made using any of the authorized TPAPs are fully protected by the redressal processes laid out by applicable guidelines of NPCI/RBI and customers already have full access to the same." The statement also appeals to the citizens not to fall prey to such malicious news.