An Indian parliamentary committee has red-flagged domestic payments landscape concentration cautioning 83% market share capture by Google Pay and PhonePe in booming UPI channels. Recommending urgent support for homegrown alternatives like BHIM, it stressed curtailing worrying dependence on global big tech players for strategic sovereignty reasons.
RBI has also repeatedly voiced similar monopoly concerns previously mandating 30% volume caps eventually for level playing field fostering though extended compliance timelines drew criticism given unabated positioning dominance visible now.
Paytm Bank Ban May Entrench Duopoly Further
Payments pioneer Paytm also now stares at existential crisis since RBI barred customer additions and financial services for its banking unit abruptly from March. Industry observers flagged critics risks of further entrenching the Facebook-Google value grasping stranglehold as next leading competitor gets disabled unceremoniously.
They argue India must nourish indigenous fintech unicorns by policy catalysts like open banking frameworks similar to open ecommerce network ONDC before bank-led cartelization damages innovation ecosystem nurturing itself unlike state-controlled Chinese counterparts.
