Google India Digital Services has filed an affidavit at the Delhi High Court stating that its Pay platform is not in violation of any Indian law.
The US-based tech giant was responding to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) which alleged that Google Pay platform didn’t have the requisite Reserve Bank of India authorisation to operate as a payment system provider.
The case had piqued public interest last month after RBI stated in the court that “Google Pay is not a payment system operator but a third-party application provider (TPAP).”
Google, in the affidavit submitted on Wednesday, argued that it abided with UPI regulations as Google Pay acted as a third-party payment application in the Unified Payments Interface ecosystem and has tied up with banks authorised as Payment Service Provider by the RBI.
Furthermore, the tech giants also told the court that it had time till next year to comply with RBI norms on Payment Gateways and Aggregators for its merchant services platform.
“It is relevant to mention that the features of Google Pay are in consonance with the mechanism enshrined in procedural guidelines and UPI framework designed by National Payments Corp of India (NPCI),” the affidavit stated. ET has seen a copy of the affidavit.
The High Court bench headed by Chief Justice DN Patel had last month ordered for a “detailed hearing” on whether the US-based payment giants operate as a third-party app provider (TPAP) or a full-fledged payment system provider.
The High Court has now given the petitioner Abhijit Mishra, who is a financial economist, time till August 31, 2020 to respond to Google’s counter affidavit.
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