Amazon and Meta have joined a growing coalition of technology companies pushing to curb the dominance of Google Pay and PhonePe in India's booming digital payments landscape, according to reports. The rival firms are preparing to meet with regulators in a bid to lobby for restrictions on the two market leaders.
PhonePe and Google Pay together command approximately 80 percent of India's Unified Payments Interface, commonly known as UPI, the country's widely adopted instant payments network. The outsized market share held by the two platforms has drawn increasing scrutiny from competitors who argue the concentration of power stifles fair competition.
UPI, developed and overseen by the National Payments Corporation of India, has transformed how hundreds of millions of Indians send and receive money, enabling instant bank-to-bank transfers through mobile applications. The network has grown rapidly over the past several years, becoming one of the largest real-time payments systems in the world.
Amazon, which operates Amazon Pay in India, and Meta, which has sought to expand its WhatsApp Payments service in the country, are among the companies expected to participate in discussions with regulators. Both firms have struggled to gain meaningful ground in a market largely divided between the two frontrunners.
The push for regulatory intervention reflects broader global debates around digital monopolies and whether dominant platforms in critical financial infrastructure should face additional oversight or limitations. Regulators in India have previously floated proposals around market share caps for UPI players, though firm rules have yet to be enacted.
The outcome of the lobbying effort could have significant implications for the future of digital payments competition in one of the world's fastest-growing internet economies. India's payments market is considered a critical growth frontier for major technology firms operating in the region.
