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Google Pay has no access to Aadhaar database: Google to Delhi High Court

by pranjalipargaonkar

New Delhi : Google India Digital Services Pvt Ltd on Monday put its side and said the Delhi High Court that it has no access to the Aadhaar database and does not require any such information for operating its Google Pay (GPay) mobile app. The PIL was filed by financial economist Abhijit Mishra  claiming that GPay was carrying financial transactions without required authorisation from RBI.

An additional affidavit was placed before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan by Google in response to an allegation. It included that the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) granted GPay access to the BHIM Aadhaar platform without knowledge of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

“It is further submitted that Google Pay does not require user’s Aadhar details, in any manner whatsoever and therefore, neither does it require to access the Aadhaar database nor does it have access to the Aadhaar database,” Google has said in its affidavit.

The rejoinder by Mishra was filed in response to the affidavit filed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in his petition.

However, RBI in its affidavit had stated that GPay was a third party app provider (TPAP) and does not operate any payment systems. Therefore, its operations are not in violation of the Payment and Settlement System Act of 2007, RBI had said.

Mishra, in the petition filed through advocate Payal Bahl, has claimed that GPay was acting as a payments system provider in violation of the Payments and Settlements Act as it has no valid authorisation from the central bank of the country to carry out such functions. The next hearing is listed on October 22.

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