Digital payments in India are going to get a boost as the global companies like Google, Facebook, Uber, and WhatsApp are planning to implement UPI on their respective platforms. To make their debut, the companies are in talks with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to enable Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on their platforms. Search engine giant Google has completed its talks, and the Google UPI may launch soon.
Google has completed the testing to integrate its Android Pay with UPI and is in advanced talks with NPCI. Recent reports confirm that Google is awaiting Reserve Bank of India’s approval to launch its UPI service in India. The report quotes NPCI’s CEO for this.
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“Quite likely Google would come first, because their testing is more or less complete. We have written to RBI seeking approval just two or three days back,” says NPCI MD & CEO A P Hota. Officials have added that Android Pay will be launched as an app, along with the integrated UPI feature.
Android Pay is a mobile wallet originally launched in 2015 in the US. This e-wallet stores credit cards, debit cards and loyalty cards, etc. Android Pay allows contactless user payments using their smartphone at selected retailers. Google Android Pay is similar to Apple Pay and Samsung Pay and could boost service If UPI is included in it. Considering the fact that Android is a dominant operating system in India with the huge user base.
On the other hand, other global players like Facebook, WhatsApp are claiming for UPI integration on their platforms. Besides that, Facebook announced peer-to-peer payments on its Messenger app back in 2015.
“Google, Facebook, and Whatsapp are very big players. Technically it is feasible, but RBI would have to take a holistic look. They will have to look whether there are any risks other than the technical aspect,” says, A P Hota.
