Google is all set with its latest Google Tez rebranding to Google Pay that went public a few days ago. Google Tez was launched last year providing services like paying utility and other bill payments but slowly, Google introduced new features and integration such as it now supports payments from more than 2,000 apps and websites which includes RedBus, Goibibo, etc. But there’s more than just rebranding that has happened to Google Tez (now Google Pay).
Google Pay is a global payment service that operates in 20 countries and since Google has rebranded Tez as Google Pay, it too has a bigger scope in the future. Google is planning on deep integration with companies such as BookMyShow and Uber. It will cater to both online and offline payments which include retail brands such as FBB, e-Zone, Big Bazaar, etc.
Google Tez (Pay) is competing with likes of PayTM, Mobikwik, and WhatsApp where the latter hasn’t being officiated due to lack of a local office. Although PayTM is the market leader with double the users and transactions compared to Google Tez, the latter has recorded around 55 million downloads ever since it was released and has transacted an amount of $30 billion in a year with over 750 million annual transactions and 54 million transactions in June itself.
Google has partnered with four leading banks in India i.e. ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, and Federal Bank, where users can apply for pre-approved microloans similar to its competitor ZestMoney which recently received investment from Chinese smartphone brand Xiaomi. According to Google, the users can apply for the loans and get the instant loans directly through the app to their bank that can be used to pay for education fees, electronics, etc.
Google is looking forward to expanding operations of Tez overseas as well which means, the features it provides in India will be added to the worldwide service which in turn will provide Indians with added features. But Google will have to localize its payment systems since India follows a UPI payment system which isn’t applicable overseas. Google has announced a number of products catered to Indians as well including support to several regional languages spread across the various apps including Google Search, Google Go, Google Maps, etc.
