Opinion | Let there be no cap on the market share of a UPI app

This newspaper reported on 10 September that the National Payments Corp. of India (NPCI) is contemplating limits to the market share of UPI apps to 33%. For the purpose of this discussion, I assume the proposed limit may be applied on the volume, rather than value, of transactions. While there is no official statement from the NPCI, such a move is flawed on many counts.

First, it would be against consumer interest. Assume that a user uses the services of provider P. Assume that the NPCI has a mechanism to prevent transactions based on the threshold. When this user does the transaction, she will be declined the exercise of her choice—which is to use whatever provider she prefers. On what basis can NPCI dictate consumer choice? Second, it is practically unenforceable. In order to determine 33% of X, one needs to know X.