Paytm vs Cred: After the complaint of Paytm, National Payments Corporation of India raised the issue of QR code in front of Cred. Now Cred has stopped putting QR codes of Paytm on the placards of its brand present at offline stores.

Cred vs Paytm: Bengaluru-based fintech firm Cred has stopped displaying Paytm 's merchant quick response ( QR ) codes on its branded placards at offline stores . Credit has taken this step after a complaint given by Paytm to the National Payments Corporation of India ( NPCI ). Paytm had complained that the credit card bill payment platform Cred was wrongly showing the QR code of another merchant. Let us tell you that the entire system of Unified Payment Interface (UPI) payments is managed by NPCI.

Credit has entered the offline payment segment three months ago with the 'Scan and Pay' feature. With this, users can make offline payments by scanning the QR code. The company, in its latest service to promote offline payments, printed QR codes of merchants affiliated with different payment companies including Paytm, BharatPe and PhonePe on its Cred-branded placards.

Confusion with QR code

According to reports, it seems as if CRED has issued these codes. At the same time, "This QR is partial for CRED members" is also written on these placards, so that users can think that these QR codes have been issued by CRED only. On the other hand, Paytm, owned by One97 Communications Limited, has also been focusing on expanding its offline network for the past few years and building its own branding at offline stores.

2.95 crore merchants on Paytm

Paytm itself had complained about credit to NPCI. As per Paytm's September quarter results, there were 2.95 crore registered merchants on the platform. The company earns through loans or lending to the merchant network and monthly subscriptions on payment products. A Cred spokesperson told ET that since the launch of Scan & Pay three months ago, members have loved making easy UPI payments through QR codes from the Cred app.

There is no guideline

According to Cred, the new experience was started with less than 30 offline merchants near its headquarters in Bengaluru. Under the marketing campaign, the company also gives incentives to the merchants who install the QR code at the outlets. At the same time, Paytm and NPCI have not said anything on this matter yet. Apart from this, NPCI has also not made any clear guidelines on the use of QR code by one company of another company.