Google Expands Payments Partnership With India’s UPI

Google Pay has introduced several new offerings via India’s United Payments Interface (UPI).

The tech giant announced the new features on its blog last week at the conclusion of the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai, saying they would help “bring ease, convenience and simplicity to the way India interacts with payments and finance.”

Among the things being introduced is UPI Circle on Google Pay, designed to help users’ loved ones make digital payments without having to link their own bank accounts.

“While UPI has undeniably simplified digital transactions for millions, there’s still a segment of the population that relies on cash and/or is hesitant to use UPI, due to various reasons, including limited access to banking services,” the blog post said.

UPI users on Google Pay can add friends or family members as  “secondary” users to their UPI Circle, with the option of approving each payment, or letting the secondary users make payments independently within a set financial limit.

Google also announced an expansion of the UPI voucher program, letting users make digital payments by giving them a prepaid voucher tied to their mobile number. 

“Beneficiaries of these vouchers will be able to use any supporting UPI app including Google Pay to pay for all their supported merchant transactions without even linking their bank account on UPI,” the blog post said. “Initially introduced for COVID-19 vaccination payments, UPI Vouchers has now evolved into a versatile payment solution for various sectors.”

Meanwhile, Google, in conjunction with NPCI Bharat Billpay, has rolled out support for ClickPay QR on the Google Pay app, letting users pay bills on Google Pay by simply scanning a ClickPay QR, without needing to remember bill account details or lengthy consumer IDs.

Google opened its digital wallet to users in India — the world’s most populous country — in May, with a focus on “localized experiences.”

“To start, we’ve partnered with over 20 of India’s top brands, offering one of the widest ranges of partners for any digital wallet in India,” the company wrote on its blog. “We look forward to adding more partners soon.”

And earlier in the year, the company announced it was working with the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) to expand the use of UPI beyond India’s borders, and to establish similar digital payment systems in other countries, and to use the UPI infrastructure to simplify remittances between nations.