India extends deadline to levy cap on digital payment transactions

India has decided to extend the deadline on capping the share of digital payment transactions by about two years to Dec. 31, 2024, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said on Friday.

The NPCI had said in late 2020 that payment firms will not be allowed to process more than 30% of the total volume of transactions on UPI from Jan 1.

The move comes as a breather to companies like Walmart Inc’s PhonePe and Alphabet Inc’s Google, which are among the leading digital money transfer apps in the country.

They are powered by the state-backed United Payments Interface (UPI) framework, which facilitates peer-to-peer money transfer online through mobile apps.

“Taking into account the present usage and future potential of UPI, and other relevant factors, the timelines for compliance of existing third part app providers who are exceeding the volume cap is extended by two years,” NPCI said in a statement. Reuters