Multiple digital payments companies in India have reportedly raised objections to a proposed Unified Payments Interface (UPI) feature aimed at speeding up online checkouts.
According to a Reuters report, the firms oppose a framework that would allow merchants to store a customer’s preferred UPI option. They said this could weaken competition in the payments market.
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The companies have sent their concerns in a letter to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
Signatories include Paytm, Meta-backed CRED and Flipkart’s Super.money, among others, the news agency said after reviewing the letter.
In June, UPI processed more than 227 billion transactions worth over Rs28trn ($289.94bn), Reuters added, citing NPCI data.
Walmart-backed PhonePe and Alphabet’s Google Pay dominate UPI payments in India, together accounting for about four-fifths of transactions.
The proposal is referred to as UPI Meta or UPI Checkout. It would let users save a preferred UPI handle or linked bank account with a merchant. This would remove the need to choose a payments app for each purchase.
Users would then complete authentication through a PIN or biometric verification, similar to saved card checkouts.
The companies said the feature could reinforce the position of larger apps. They argued that customers are unlikely to change a saved UPI ID. This, they said, could make it harder for smaller apps to compete.
“The proposed framework is expected to materially increase persistence of customer preference towards the (third party apps) selected during the initial setup process,” Reuters quoted the companies as saying in the letter.
UPI, a real-time mobile payments system, is developed and operated by NPCI.
It is available in several overseas markets. These include the UAE, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Singapore, France, Mauritius, Qatar and Cambodia. The list of markets could soon include Indonesia.
