In a letter obtained by Reuters on Tuesday, a union representing India’s largest state-run bank and a global coalition requested the central bank to prohibit huge firms from setting up payment networks, claiming that privatisation could jeopardise data security. They are concerned [D1] [r2] that the engagement of large multinational corporations may jeopardise data security.
NUE
Last year, India’s central bank (RBI) asked companies to form so-called New Umbrella Entities (NUEs) to develop a payments network that would compete with the country’s flagship processor, the National Payments Council of India, in order to decrease concentration risks in the payments sector (NPCI).
New payment technologies, such as digital and ATM transactions, will be available to the NUE. Amazon, Google, Facebook, and other multinationals have applied for similar licences in collaboration with Indian firms like Reliance and ICICI Bank
The All-IndiaState Bank of India (SBI) Staff Federation and the UNI Global Union, a vocal critic of tech giants, wrote in the letter that the involvement of big multi-national companies raises concerns about user data abuse and that India’s digital payment networks should continue to operate on a non-profit basis
Opposes NUE
The letter encouraged the central bank to abandon the “whole process of NUE licencing” in favour of bolstering the non-profit domestic payments body, NPCI. A request for comment from the RBI on the letter, which had previously gone unnoticed, was not immediately returned.
New Umbrella Entities (NUE) will be permitted to run new payment systems, such as digital and ATM transactions.
While the government-backed NPCI serves as the country’s digital payment system’s backbone, India is becoming a more attractive digital payments market for everyone from Amazon to Google. According to a 2019 report by Assocham and PWC India, digital payments in India might reach $135 billion in 2023, up from $65 billion in 2019.
The SBI union, which represents 100,000 of the company’s almost 250,000 employees, and the UNI Global Union, which represents over 20 million workers worldwide, highlighted concerns about the NUE proposal by a consortium led by Amazon in the letter. It stated that the American company was under investigation in India and elsewhere for its commercial methods.
[D1]Who are concerned? Specify. This is not how you should start with an article.
[r2]done
