India once more delays guidelines geared toward breaking PhonePe-Google Pay duopoly

India pushed again once more a controversial project to restrict the management of massive tech corporations over the nation’s digital funds system, extending regulatory uncertainty that has weighed on the sector for years.

The Nationwide Funds Company of India introduced on Tuesday that it’ll prolong till December 31, 2026 the deadline to implement a 30% cap on the share of transactions of any particular person software on the Unified Funds Interface, or UPI, the nation’s ubiquitous digital funds community.

The choice brings non permanent reduction to Walmart-backed PhonePe and Google Pay, which collectively deal with over 85% of transactions on UPI. The community, which processes greater than 13 billion transactions per thirty days, has develop into the spine of India’s digital financial system since its launch eight years in the past.

The regulator, which operates underneath the supervision of India’s central financial institution and is backed by greater than 50 retail banks, has struggled to find ways to implement market share restrictions with out disrupting service for the lots of of tens of millions of Indians who depend on these fee apps each day.

On Tuesday, India additionally lifted restrictions on WhatsApp mobile payment serviceenabling the Meta-owned on the spot messaging app to roll out WhatsApp Pay to all of its greater than 500 million customers within the South Asian market.

All through this yr, these accountable have held in-depth discussions with industry leaders on methods to implement the caps, however discovered no workable options that would not threat disrupting the buyer expertise, in response to individuals acquainted with the discussions.

Market share limits had been first proposed in 2020, with an preliminary deadline that was later pushed again to 2025. Tuesday’s determination marks an additional delay in India’s efforts to curb the rising energy of world tech giants in its booming digital financial system.

For PhonePe, which controls practically half of India’s digital funds market, the growth offers essential readability because it evaluates IPO plans. The corporate’s high govt had beforehand cited regulatory uncertainty over market share caps as a significant impediment to the timing of its IPO.

The UPI community, which facilitates interoperability between totally different fee apps and banks, has develop into the most well-liked manner for Indians to transact on-line, used for the whole lot from road vendor funds to fares taxis.