The online payments competitors PhonePe and Paytm are at odds after PhonePe went to the police and claimed that three Paytm employees had burned its QR codes. According to a PhonePe representative, the event is believed to have occurred in Greater Noida, and the business has contacted Surajpur Lakhnawali police station.
Ever since a footage of a stack of their QR codes being set aflame appeared, PhonePe decided to proceed with its case. A Paytm Area Sales Manager was one of three Softbank-backed Paytm personnel that could be recognised in the clip, an official at PhonePe claimed. An ex-employee of PhonePe has also been recognized as one of the three. The suspected workers have indeed been dismissed immediately, according to a Paytm representative, while Paytm conducts an internal review. According to the complaint made against the concerned employees, the crime was committed with the intention of harming PhonePe’s image
A Paytm spokesperson spoke to Moneycontrol in detail about the incident and shared interesting insights. “This matter is between Phonepe and its ex-employees. We condemn the act committed by these rogue employees, who have already been suspended from the company pending a detailed investigation.”
He further said, “We do not tolerate any act of misconduct and always stand by the highest standards of work ethics. Paytm has been the pioneer of QR code payments in the country and takes great pride in significantly contributing to the growth of India’s digital ecosystem.”
PhonePe CEO Sameer Nigam responded to Paytm’s accusations on Twitter in order to express his rage.
His tweet raid, “Worth mentioning that this ‘ex’ employee of PhonePe works for Paytm now, and there are 10 other people in the video burning @PhonePe QR codes in broad daylight. Anyways, let the police investigate the matter and justice prevail…”
In order to expedite the acceptance of payments, stores and other commercial institutions display QR codes, which are online payment reception channels. These paper-based QR tags are typically attached to walls to make it simple for shop owners to collect UPI payments. Businesses, or shop and store owners, can accept UPI payments from clients with the aid of QR codes. PhonePe and Paytm each have a 13% share of all monthly UPI transactions (P2P and P2M), which together account for 46% of all transactions. Paytm has a base of 26.7 million users, compared to PhonePe’s 32 million merchant partners across all of India.