Tez renamed Google Pay, teams up with 4 banks to offer instant loans
Google India on Tuesday said it has rebranded its Indian payments app Tez as Google Pay and is partnering four banks to provide instant loans for the app’s users.
In the coming weeks, Google Pay users will be able to access customised loans from HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Federal Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank with minimal paperwork, said Caesar Sengupta, vice-president of Google’s Next Billion Users Initiative and Payments at the Google for India event in New Delhi. Once users holding accounts with these banks accept the bank’s terms, the money will be transferred to their accounts.
“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,” Caesar Sengupta said.
Google Tez, which was launched in September, will also expand services for merchants and retailers. About 15,000 retail stores in India will have Google Pay enabled by Diwali 2018, Caesar Sengupta said.
Google claims that over 1.2 million small businesses in India are already using Google Pay. In a bid to help their business grow further, Google is building a dedicated merchant experience where they will 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,” said Sengupta.
Google Pay has rivals in Paytm and Facebook Inc.’s Whatsapp targeting the Indian payments market.