The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has said that Google Pay is an authorized app and the payments made through it are fully protected.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the electronic payment and settlement systems infrastructure provider, NPCI, said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has authorized it as a payment system operator (PSO) of the Unified Payments Interface

It said that Google Pay is classified as a third party app provider (TPAP) that also provides UPI payment services like many others, working through banking partners and operating under the UPI framework of NPCI. All authorized TPAPs are listed on the NPCI website.

"All transactions made using any of the authorized TPAPs are fully protected by the redressal processes laid out by applicable guidelines of NPCI/RBI and customers already have full access to the same," the NPCI statement said.

The clarification comes amid social media buzz that the problems and issues arising while transferring money through Google Pay cannot be redressed under law as the app is unauthorized.

NPCI has rejected such claims saying that all authorized TPAPs are already bound by full compliance to all the regulations and applicable laws in India.

It added that the UPI ecosystem is fully safe and secure, and appealed to the citizens not to fall prey to such malicious news.

"We also request UPI customers not to share their OTP (one time password) and UPI pin with anybody,” NPCI added.