Paytm Declares War Against Google; Accuses Them Of Sharing Users’ Payment Data!

The digital payment war is now getting interesting in India. An intense battle for supremacy can be now expected, as Paytm, India’s largest digital wallet has declared a war against Google, world’s biggest Internet company.

What is the exact issue here? And is Google a culprit?

Keep reading to find out more!

Paytm: Google Pay Is Unethical!

In an interesting move, Paytm has contact NPCI, the nodal agency which foresees all digital payments in India, and have complained that Google Pay is sharing users’ payment related data with other entities.

This includes affiliate companies and third-party users.

This is a serious allegation, and if proved, as discredit Google Pay’s claims of secured transactions.

In a letter addressed to NPCI chief executive Dilip Asbe, Paytm said, “Google Pay, which is an unregulated platform, has the scope of using their customers’ data for their monetary gains with complete disregard for the users’ need for privacy,”

Google had recently changed the name of Google Tez to Google Pay, as they plan a major expansion in India. Thus, Google Pay is directly pitched against Paytm in the niche.

Related:

WhatsApp Payments Vs Google Tez Vs PhonePe Vs Paytm Vs BHIM – Who’s The Winner?

Paytm: Local Data Storage Is Good For India!

In the same letter, Paytm strongly advocated for Govt.’s insistence to store data of Indians in India, by digital companies.

Paytm has said that Google is storing data of Indians outside India, and this can have “severe security implications in case of a data breach.”

However, recently Google has assured Indian Govt. that they will now store data locally, as per the existing laws and regulations.

NPCI, and RBI along with Indian Govt. have ordered all fintech and digital companies operating in India to store their data inside India.

Google Responds: There is No Truth In Paytm Allegations!

In a reply to ET, Google has assured that they don’t sell or share any data related with UPI transaction of any user. And the same policy of user privacy is maintained across all Google products.

Here is the full reply: “Google Pay users have a direct relationship with Google – as per Google Pay terms of service a Google Account is opened with Google LLC. A common Google Account allows for checks and controls required for managing risk, fraud, spam and for enhancing security measures, that are applied across Google products. It runs as a common thread across Google products allowing for seamlessness of service that a user can avail of and benefit from. Google does not use any individual UPI transactions data for any monetization purpose e.g. for advertisements,”

Paytm’s New Strategy: Attack Your Competitors?

This is not the first time when Paytm has directly attacked their competitor and accused them of violating ‘Indian’ laws.

In the month of February, Paytm triggered a unique corporate war against Whatsapp and Facebook. In a war of words, Paytm described Whatsapp as a security risk, and termed Facebook as ‘evil’.

This battle was unleashed days after Whatsapp Payment was allowed to carry trials among few users. Like Google Pay, Whatsapp Payment is also UPI based and competes directly against Paytm wallet.

Do you think such attacks against competitors will work for Paytm? Do let us know by commenting right here!