Google is going to launch a digital payments service for India, called 'Google Tez', at an event on September 18. As per the invite for the event, the company is set to "share details on the launch of a new product developed grounds up for India".
The service will reportedly rely on India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) framework, allowing users to transfer money between bank accounts instantly using a mobile platform. However, this does mean that the company will have to partner with a local bank in the country in order to utilize the UPI payments system.
A patent application (No. 3579083) from Google for 'Tez' can be found on the Indian government's trademark website, the description given for the trademark fits that of being a secure digital payments system. However, the patent application has the status of being objected, leaving its current status unclear.
It's also unclear whether this new service will be similar to Android Pay; Google Tez could simply be a rebranded and localized version of Google's existing payments service.
"Tez" means fast in Hindi, and the system will be Google's gambit in what has been described as a fast growing and highly competitive digital payments market in India with other global companies such as WhatsApp, owned by Facebook, eager to get in on the action too. Many experts believe that the usage of these digital payment systems in India is going to increase massively as we approach the end of 2017.
Digital payment systems, such as PayPal, are now globally ubiquitous; a supportive framework from the Indian government in fostering the further growth of them is a sign of its eagerness to sometimes embrace new technology. Quite like the country's recent motion to join other nations in making all of its cars electric or hybrids by 2030.
