Last September we launched Tez, a digital payments app made for India. In just under a year, Tez has found a place in the lives for more than 22 million people and businesses who use it every month. People from over 300,000 suburbs, towns, and villages are using it to pay their electrician, book bus rides, or split a dinner bill with friends. With simple and fast transactions, Tez has made it easy to recharge a phone or pay the monthly electricity bill in just a few taps. And because it’s built on BHIM UPI, users can send money to anyone, even if the recipient is on another payments app. Together, users have made over 750 million transactions — with each one settled instantly and securely into a bank account. In total, these transactions are worth over US$30B annually — that’s 200 thousand crore rupees. Along with the growth of Tez, India’s monthly UPI transactions have grown 14x — an astounding change that puts India’s economy as one of the world’s leading innovators in digital finance.
We have learnt that when we build for India, we build for the world, and we believe that many of the innovations and features we have pioneered with Tez will work globally. The world has certainly taken notice of India’s digital payments success and our deep investments here with Tez. Many governments are asking us to work with them to bring similar digital payments innovations to their countries. To make this happen, we will be unifying all of Google’s payment offerings globally. Starting today, Tez will now be called Google Pay.
The many things that you love about the app — the familiar contacts on your homescreen, the one-touch mobile recharges, and of course the fun offers and rewards — are all here to stay. In fact, over time we’ll bring many of these features to Google Pay users in other countries just as we’ll bring features we have launched elsewhere to India.
This change is not just an indication of user traction in India, it also paves the way for you to use Google Pay in more places on the web, apps, in stores and across Google products, so that payments can be seamless in everything you do.
More places to pay for users
The number of places you can pay with Google Pay will be greatly expanding — online on apps and website, as well as branded retail stores. For online merchants, you can already use Google Pay to transact securely at places like Goibibo, FreshMenu, redBus and in over two thousand other online apps and sites. And in the coming weeks, we will be adding more partners, including deeper integrations with BookMyshow.
For big brands, we’re working with the largest stores so you can pay in retail locations across India. Later this year, you should be able to use Google Pay at thousands of your favorite retail stores, like Big Bazaar, e-Zone, and FBB.
Powering small businesses to help them grow
We also want to help the 1.2 million Indian local businesses on Google Pay with more than just payments. That’s why we’re building a dedicated merchant experience to help them grow their business. In addition to receiving digital payments using their phones, this will help them be discovered through Google Search and Maps, and communicate with their customers through messages and offers. We are testing these features with merchants in Bangalore and Delhi, and onboarding more neighbourhoods in the following months.
Accelerating financial inclusion
The mission of Google Pay is to make money simple, and we are starting to think about how we go beyond payments to accelerate financial inclusion. We’re partnering with banks such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Federal Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank to facilitate pre-approved loans to their customers, right within Google Pay very swiftly. In the coming weeks, these customers will be able to use Google Pay to take out a customised loan amount from their banks, with minimal paperwork, and once they accept the bank’s terms, the money is deposited securely and instantly by their bank, into their bank account.
When we build for India and next billion user markets, we are building for everyone. India is now one of the world leaders in digital payments innovation, and we’re even more motivated to continue our efforts to support India’s digital transformation.
By Caesar Sengupta GM, Payments and Next Billion Users Initiative