Paytm-Google at loggerheads; Paytm accuses Google of policies above Indian laws

New Delhi: Paytm, the Indian e-commerce payment system and financial technology company, has said that Google is making policies that are above the laws of India. The allegations came within days of the Noida-based startup's app being briefly delisted from the Playstore last week.

Paytm said that the company's payments app was delisted on September 18 from Playstore for policy violations without giving it an opportunity to defend itself. The delisting happened after Paytm launched its UPI cashback campaign on September 11.

"This was the first time that Google sent us a notification regarding our UPI cashback and scratch cards campaign. Contrary to accepted practice, we were not given any opportunity to respond to their concerns or put forth our views," the company said in its blog post.

Paytm termed the global tech giant's move as hypocritical as Google, too, regularly runs similar scratch card campaigns in India under its Google Pay app.

"Google owns Android which is the operating system on which over 95 per cent of smartphones in India run. Google, as a result, has enormous control over which apps you download through its Play Store policies. It also makes billions of dollars in advertising revenues from the Indian startups that make these apps," the company said.