In an about-turn, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has now backed ICICI Bank in the tussle between the private bank and Flipkart-owned PhonePe application, which enables account-to-account transfers on behalf of Yes Bank. The corporation, which manages payment networks in India, has now said that PhonePe needs to first adhere to NPCI’s guidelines before ICICI Bank allows its customers to register on the app.
NPCI has noted that PhonePe and Flipkart apps are in contravention of the UPI guidelines on interoperability. Hence, NPCI has directed PhonePe and Flipkart to comply with UPI guide lines, and allow payments from UPI handles of all banks on their apps,” said the corporation.
“Simultaneously , ICICI Bank has been requested to allow UPI transactions from PhonePe app as soon as PhonePe and Flipkart start complying with UPI guidelines on interoperability” the statement added.
The dispute between the two institutions is in focus because Flipkart is one of the biggest online merchants in the country and has been the first off the block to start accepting payments directly from customer accounts using UPI -a platform which enables account holders to transfer and request funds from other account holders without account details.
Also, account holders can use any bank app to access their bank accounts. Flipkart has been offering discounts to customers who use the PhonePe app.
