After several weeks of speculation and leaked details, today Google officially unveiled its first big foray into mobile payments in Asia. The Android and search giant has launched
Tez, a new mobile wallet in India that will let users link up their phones to their bank accounts to pay for goods securely in physical stores and online, and for person-to-person money transfers.
“Send money home to your family, split a dinner bill with friends, or pay the neighbourhood chaiwala. Make all payments big or small, directly from your bank account with Tez, Google’s new digital payment app for India,” Google notes in its information portal about the new app.
Tez is launching today on
iOS and
Android in the country and will see Google linking up with several major banks in the country by way of UPI (Unified Payments Interface) — a payment standard and system backed by the government in its push to bring more integrated banking services into a very fragmented market.
To be clear, Tez is not a mobile “wallet” in the same way as PayTM offers a mobile wallet, where money is stored in the app and needs to be topped up to be used; it’s more like Apple’s Wallet or other mobile wallets in the west: a place that links up your phone with your bank accounts to let you use your phone as a way to deduct payments from those accounts.
Supported banks include Axis, HDFC Bank, ICICI and State Bank of India and others that support UPI. Online payment partners include large food chains like Dominos, transport services like RedBus, and Jet Airways. And tellingly, to help address one of the many ways that the Indian market is fragmented, the app has support for English, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu.
For money transfers, there is a limit of ₹1,00,000 in one day across all UPI apps, and 20 transfers in one day.
While the service is launching in India this week, Google has also trademarked the name in other Asian countries, specifically Indonesia and the Philippines, so there seems to be a wider strategy to expand this to other regions.
India, the second-most populated country in Asia after China, is a ripe market for mobile payment services, with a rapidly expanding middle class with more disposable income and a wider population that is very tech-focussed. Digital payments are expected to reach a volume of $500 billion annually by 2020, according to a report from BCG and Google.
How to use Tez payments app?
After downloading the application from App Store OR Play Store, you’ll need to add your mobile number for OTP verification. After that one needs to set the Google PIN or screen lock; fingerprint lock is also supported for extra security.
Once you’ve taken care of security, you need to add your bank account by tapping on the profile button at the top left corner. There, choose the bank name and your account will be automatically detected with the help of phone number. You existing UPI ID will also be displayed there; if you don’t have one already, it’ll be generated.
To send the money, you need to tap the Payments section on the home screen. This will allow you to send money using Account number, UPI ID, phone number, or QR code. To receive money, you can share your details with others.
Tez payments app’s highlight feature is its Cash Mode feature that doesn’t ask you to enter any code or UPI ID for sending and receiving money. Using this mode, you can simply transfer money with people around you using audio.
Tez also provides a separate Tez for Business option for vendors who wish to add it as a payment option. Businesses will get their own Business Channels to directly engage with customers and share offers.
