Alphabet Inc’s Google has finally forayed into the payments space, by launching its app ‘Tez’ exclusively in India on Android and iOS. The app is now available on Play Store and App store for the users to download.
Google’s VP for Next Billion Users Caesar Sengupta launched the app at an event in New Delhi in the presence of Finance Minister Arun Jaitely. Unlike a digital wallet Tez is built on UPI that allows for payments directly via bank accounts. It allows the users to do financial transactions like sending money, receiving payments directly into their bank accounts. The users can link the app directly to their bank accounts.The platform is built on the government’s Unified Payment Interface (UPI).
“Google Tez app is design for India and made in India. It supports seven Indian languages and more will be on the way. Our focus with this is on digital payments,” said Sengupta upon its launch.
“January was when discussions first started around this app with Google with Sundar Pichai, Caesar Sengupta, and Rajan Anandan. The Tez app is one of the most simple forms of monetary transactions. It represents a major advance in the direction of a cashless economy and it is good to see that Google has achieved in eight-to nine months what they had planned with the launch of the Tez app,” said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at the event.
The app has 4 modes that enables a user to make payments:
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One way is through UPI ID, which is part of the government of India UPI interface. If you know the iD of a receiver you can simply input that and make the payment.
The second way is to pay by scanning a QR code which will work similar to how the Paytm QR code scanning payment works.
Third way is to pay by using the phone number in which the use can simply pay using the phone number of the person he wishes to pay to.
The fourth mode is called “cash” mode and it uses proximity. In the Cash mode it will allow two users to exchange money if they have the phones in close proximity. Just tap the “Cash” button in the Tez app and then follow the instructions. The phone uses proximity sensor and microphone to enable payment.
Layfield also explained Tez won’t be limited to just customers exchanging money with their friends and family. The company plans to bring in business partners and is working with Domino’s Pizza, Jet Airways, RedBus, PayU, BillDesk, PVR cinemas, Shopify, etc to let users directly connect with businesses on the app. However, customers will have the option of choosing which business they wish to interact with, and can also block a business.
While for the end-users, the app is called Tez, Google has also built a special version for businesses. This is called Tez for Business.
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