ET WLF 2024: Market share cap on UPI transactions not an issue, says Ambarish Kenghe
«The regulators and government are balancing a lot of things, some of which we are not privy to… I don't see a challenge with this issue of market share because there are a large number of players operating and there is scope for everyone,» he said.
Kenghe, who helms Google Pay in India and Asia Pacific region, was in conversation with ET's Samidha Sharma at the ET World Leaders Forum on Saturday.
Google Pay is the second largest UPI app, according to transaction volume, only behind Walmart-backed PhonePe. The two players together command about 85% market share, in terms of UPI volume, and stand to be affected the most if a cap is imposed on market share.
The National Payments Corporation of India, which manages the UPI railroad, had in 2021 proposed a 30% market share cap on UPI transaction volume to avoid market dominance and duopoly. However, it has yet to implement the cap.
On August 28, Sameer Nigam, chief executive of PhonePe, said at the Global Fintech Festival that the market share cap directive is acting like an overhang, hindering the company's initial public offering plan.
ET reported on August 20 that enforcing this directive seems unlikely, with just over four months remaining before the deadline.
PhonePe currently holds about 48% market share, followed by Google Pay (37%).
Notably, Google Pay's market share has been declining over the past few months. However, Kenghe said that the UPI system remains interoperable with customers using a variety of apps.
«Almost 90% of P2M (merchant payment)
