To avoid tech’s antitrust troubles, India tries a hard 30% cap

A user displays Facebook’s WhatsApp payment feature on his mobile phone in Faridabad. Concerns that WhatsApp could dominate payments in India stem from the enormous number of people who fire up the app to message, call and share videos – all in 10 different Indian languages. — AFP

From Washington to Beijing, governments are trying to strike the right balance between enabling technology innovation and preventing giants like Google and Facebook Inc from suffocating rivals. Now India is experimenting with a framework for financial technology that’s certain to provide lessons worldwide – succeed or fail.

The country’s unique approach is to decree limits on fintech competitors from the start: No single player can grab more than 30% of total payments transactions. Every company also has to use India’s open payments platform, guaranteeing interoperability so money can be transferred between any of more than 100 traditional banks and digital services like Google Pay – all without fees.