Abhishek012
TF Pioneer
NPCI is a private company or govt company ?
There is always an argument about whether NPCI is a private company or a govt company.
I have always said that NPCI is a private company or private non-profit company — neither does the govt have anything to do with it, nor does the govt fund NPCI.
I thought, why not finally create a separate thread for this?
Those who want to fight can keep fighting. 🤣🤣
By the way, this article just came out in the media last week—you can read it - https://www.medianama.com/2025/02/223-npci-competition-regulation/
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), a largely bank-owned private non-profit company, runs BHIM. Many mistake, misunderstand, or misrepresent NPCI as a government body because people don’t know better. People can mistake NPCI’s statement that it is “is an initiative of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, for creating a robust Payment & Settlement Infrastructure in India” as suggesting that it is a government body. Not their fault, of course.
NPCI actively sought to be recognized as a private entity, taking its case to the Chief Information Commissioner to argue that it is not a public authority and, therefore, not subject to RTI requests—and it won. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) also examined its use of the word “National” in its name, noting that, since 2014, only government-owned companies or those with government stakes could use the term.
In the next paragraph, it is written again -
But what is also clear is that it was designed to be a private entity, and the fact that it would become a monopoly was recognised early. As Smriti Parsheera writes:
“In 2011, the Technical Advisory Group for Unique Projects headed by India Stack proponent, Nandan Nilekani, articulated the idea of vesting the ownership of digital infrastructures in ‘private companies with a public purpose.’ The adoption of a ‘not-for-profit’ structure for entities like the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) has become one of the ways to emphasise their public purpose. “…”The Technical Advisory Group for Unique Projects committee had observed that digital infrastructure operators, which they labeled as national information utilities, essentially operate as natural monopolies due to ‘upfront sunk-cost, economies of scale, and network externalities from a surrounding ecosystem.’”
Anyway, those who want to fight on this topic, keep fighting all your entire life.
But I would like to add one more thing:
Every country’s govt promotes its local payment network, but that doesn’t mean we should start calling it a govt company.
Visa and Mastercard aren’t considered U.S. government companies, even though they are backed by the U.S. government.
And the U.S. govt has even funded Visa and Mastercard in the past, whereas the Indian govt has never done that in NPCI.
The U.S. govt uses Visa and Mastercard in its sanctions to restrict certain countries but does that mean Visa and Mastercard are called govt companies?
Many times i told - NPCI has been created in the same way as Visa/Mastercard. Before 2008, Visa/mastercard was non-profit private company.
Anyone who thinks NPCI is a Indian govt company should also consider Visa and Mastercard as U.S. govt companies. There is no difference between all these companies.
By the way, also read NPCI employee's own replies on Quora -
This is not just one employee's reply; I have seen replies from other NPCI employees as well.
In fact, when I used to read NPCI employees' replies a long time ago, they used to say, "We are a private company/NPCI is a private company" (of course, back when the govt wasn’t as involved in NPCI).
There is always an argument about whether NPCI is a private company or a govt company.
I have always said that NPCI is a private company or private non-profit company — neither does the govt have anything to do with it, nor does the govt fund NPCI.
I thought, why not finally create a separate thread for this?
Those who want to fight can keep fighting. 🤣🤣
By the way, this article just came out in the media last week—you can read it - https://www.medianama.com/2025/02/223-npci-competition-regulation/
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), a largely bank-owned private non-profit company, runs BHIM. Many mistake, misunderstand, or misrepresent NPCI as a government body because people don’t know better. People can mistake NPCI’s statement that it is “is an initiative of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, for creating a robust Payment & Settlement Infrastructure in India” as suggesting that it is a government body. Not their fault, of course.
NPCI actively sought to be recognized as a private entity, taking its case to the Chief Information Commissioner to argue that it is not a public authority and, therefore, not subject to RTI requests—and it won. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) also examined its use of the word “National” in its name, noting that, since 2014, only government-owned companies or those with government stakes could use the term.
In the next paragraph, it is written again -
But what is also clear is that it was designed to be a private entity, and the fact that it would become a monopoly was recognised early. As Smriti Parsheera writes:
“In 2011, the Technical Advisory Group for Unique Projects headed by India Stack proponent, Nandan Nilekani, articulated the idea of vesting the ownership of digital infrastructures in ‘private companies with a public purpose.’ The adoption of a ‘not-for-profit’ structure for entities like the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) has become one of the ways to emphasise their public purpose. “…”The Technical Advisory Group for Unique Projects committee had observed that digital infrastructure operators, which they labeled as national information utilities, essentially operate as natural monopolies due to ‘upfront sunk-cost, economies of scale, and network externalities from a surrounding ecosystem.’”
Anyway, those who want to fight on this topic, keep fighting all your entire life.
But I would like to add one more thing:
Every country’s govt promotes its local payment network, but that doesn’t mean we should start calling it a govt company.
Visa and Mastercard aren’t considered U.S. government companies, even though they are backed by the U.S. government.
And the U.S. govt has even funded Visa and Mastercard in the past, whereas the Indian govt has never done that in NPCI.
The U.S. govt uses Visa and Mastercard in its sanctions to restrict certain countries but does that mean Visa and Mastercard are called govt companies?
Many times i told - NPCI has been created in the same way as Visa/Mastercard. Before 2008, Visa/mastercard was non-profit private company.
Anyone who thinks NPCI is a Indian govt company should also consider Visa and Mastercard as U.S. govt companies. There is no difference between all these companies.
By the way, also read NPCI employee's own replies on Quora -
This is not just one employee's reply; I have seen replies from other NPCI employees as well.
In fact, when I used to read NPCI employees' replies a long time ago, they used to say, "We are a private company/NPCI is a private company" (of course, back when the govt wasn’t as involved in NPCI).
