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Amazon, Meta join fight to end Google Pay, PhonePe dominance in India

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Amazon and Meta are among the big companies set to lobby India’s payments body over the dominance of Walmart-owned PhonePe and Google Pay in the country’s fast-growing instant payments network.

Executives representing platforms including Amazon Pay, WhatsApp, CRED, MobiKwik, and Flipkart’s Super.money are scheduled to meet the National Payments Corporation of India on Thursday, TechCrunch has learned. The body operates the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), India’s instant payments system that processes billions of transactions each month.

The meeting comes over a year after India deferred plans to cap the market share of UPI apps at 30% until December 31, 2026, a measure that would have limited any single app’s share of UPI transactions. That delay has effectively allowed PhonePe and Google Pay to retain their dominant positions, intensifying concerns among players with smaller shares about their ability to compete.

PhonePe and Google Pay combined accounted for roughly 80% of the 22.6 billion transactions on the UPI network in March, data from NPCI shows. That scale far outpaces rivals such as Paytm, Flipkart’s Super.money, CRED, Amazon Pay, and MobiKwik.

PhonePe said this week it has crossed 700 million registered users and 50 million merchants across India, underlining the scale that has helped entrench its position. The merchants that accept it spans more than 98% of the country’s postal codes, highlighting the reach that smaller rivals say is difficult to replicate.

An agenda reviewed by TechCrunch shows participants, including Amazon and Meta, are expected to raise concerns about user acquisition practices, product design, and monetization within the UPI ecosystem. Among the proposals are restrictions on how dominant apps onboard users and use contact data, calls for fair access to features such as autopay and payment mandates, and requests for incentives and regulatory support to help emerging players compete.

Because these companies find it harder to compete with the dominant instant pay players, they are lobbying the regulatory body to help them. However, the NPCI, which operates under the Reserve Bank of India’s supervision, has struggled to find ways to curb dominance without disrupting services used by hundreds of millions of users.

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NPCI, Amazon, Meta, and others did not respond to requests for comment.

It remains unclear whether the meeting will lead to any immediate changes, with questions persisting over how NPCI could address market concentration.

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Imo senatorial aspirant, Nwachukwu drags NDC to court over ticket denial  

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A Senatorial Aspirant, Isaac Nwachukwu, has dragged Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, before a Federal High Court Sitting in Owerri, Imo State, over the fallout of the party’s National Assembly primaries.

Nwachukwu, in a suit filed through his Counsel, Cajethan Oguzie, accused the party of denying him the Imo North senatorial ticket after emerging a consensus candidate and paying N5m for the nomination form.

The suit also disclosed that Nwachukwu had paid N20m for the support of the party, but his support was unexplainably reduced to N10m when the list of those who supported the party was published.

The NDC Senatorial Aspirant, in his prayers before the court, demanded that a declaration should be made that he is the consensus candidate of the party in the state with regard to the Imo North Senatorial Zone in the 2027 General election.

“A declaration that the first defendant, NDC, be restrained from fielding another candidate except the plaintiff in the General election into the Imo North Senatorial Zone as he is the consensus candidate for the said election.

“A declaration that the second defendant, INEC, be perpetually restrained from recognising and accepting the candidacy of another person except the plaintiff in the Imo North Senatorial election pending the determination of the matter,” the suit stated.

In an affidavit supporting the originating summons, Nwachukwu stated that he purchased the expression of interest form to aspire for the position for Imo North senatorial zone, a copy of which is attached in the suit already filed.

The NDC Senatorial Aspirant added that upon the purchase of the form, he made a monetary contribution in support of the party’s growth in the tune of N20m into the party’s FCMB account number through his Counsel, receipt also attached in the suit as an exhibit.

“The first sign of irregularity and no compliance with the NDC constitution and electoral act came up when the N20m I paid for party support was allocated to one of the aspirants for my Senatorial District by the name Matthew Omegara, and the N10m that Matthew Omegara paid for party support was allocated to me by the Screening Committee headed by Sam Egwu and Buba Galadimma.

” In compliance with NDC’s directives, I participated in the NDC screening exercise and was successfully cleared as an aspirant to participate in the primary election.

After my consensus candidacy was ratified, my name was shortlisted as a Candidate for Imo North district. A copy of the result is hereby annexed as Exhibit 1U5,” the affidavit added.

Nwachukwu alleged that his name was substituted with Omegara after he had been declared the winner of the primary election.

The Imo North Senatorial Aspirant claimed that the National leader of the party, Seriake Dickson, had summoned him for a meeting telling him that his candidacy was affected after a party chieftain from his state said he didn’t know him.

Among other demands, Nwachukwu is asking the court to order NDC to issue him a certificate as its candidate for the Imo North Senatorial District.

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ADC raises alarm over alleged membership forgery in Zamfara

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Supporters and members of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, in Anka and Talata Mafara Local Government Areas of Zamfara State have alleged attempts to manipulate the party’s membership records and card numbers ahead of internal political activities.
The allegation was contained in a statement issued on Wednesday in Gusau by Nura Rabiu Cibiki, Director of Media and Strategy, Campaign and Mobilisation Committee for Abdulrahaman Yahaya, an aspirant for the House of Representatives seat representing Anka/Talata Mafara Federal Constituency.

The group warned against any attempt to alter or duplicate legitimate membership figures, saying such actions could deepen tensions within the party in the constituency.

“We strongly oppose any move to manipulate or duplicate legitimate membership figures, warning that such actions would only worsen existing tensions within the party and the Anka/Talata Mafara Federal Constituency,” the statement said.

The supporters maintained that ADC members in Anka and Talata Mafara were aware of the party’s authentic membership strength and were prepared to protect the integrity of the party’s records.

The statement added that while justice may be delayed, the truth could not be denied.

Meanwhile, Yahaya has filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Gusau challenging alleged irregularities in the party’s primary election process in the constituency.

The court has fixed June 23, 2026, for mention of the case.

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