‘Google Pay does not share customer data’

Company backtracks on affidavit in HC

FILE - This April 26, 2017 file photo shows the Google mobile phone icon, in Philadelphia. A revised gender pay lawsuit seeking class action status against Google faults the search giant’s practice of asking new hires about their prior salary, a practice now banned in California because it perpetuates existing biases against women. The suit also adds a fourth complainant to the original, a preschool teacher with a master’s degree, to the group of three women who say they were underpaid by Google compared to their male counterparts. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

Google on Friday said its digital payment application Google Pay does not share customer transaction data with any third party outside the payments flow.

The clarification comes a day after the company told the Delhi High Court that its Google Pay, being a third-party application provider, is allowed under the law to share customer’s UPI transaction data with third parties and group companies.

“This is to clarify that press reports on the basis of the affidavit filed by Google before the Delhi High Court, do not represent the complete facts. Google Pay is in full compliance with Unified Payment Interface (UPI) procedural guidelines, issued by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the applicable laws, and does not share customer transaction data with any third party outside the payments flow,” a Google spokesperson said.

In an affidavit, Google India said the NPCI’s ‘procedural guidelines’ do not impose an absolute prohibition or restriction on a third-party application provider’s ability to share data or information, if it was done with prior permission of the NPCI and the bank concerned.