At the Google for India 2023 event, emphasis was laid on how digital payments have benefitted millions of India in the last six years. Data provided by Google India Team’s official blog post stated that in the previous year, the total amount of Unified Payment Interface (UPI) value stood at Rs 167 lakh crores. “Google Pay is proud to have played a role in this success, and we remain committed to working with RBI, NPCI, the government and our financial ecosystem partners toward more milestones,” the blog post stated.
“Just like UPI revolutionised digital payments, digitising credit – with consent and privacy safeguards – can provide ways of expanding the reach of formal credit. And the lower transaction cost of digital credit delivery can enable smaller minimum ticket loan sizes, making it more suitable and approachable for more borrowers. Working with our partners in the financial ecosystem, we are proud to announce products – tailored for consumers and merchants – to help address both the organised and unorganised sector,” the blog post mentioned.
During the event, Google unveiled plans for providing different kinds of merchant offerings, them being a merchant credit line backed by ePayLater, to benefit merchants’ capital needs available across all online and offline distribution channels, Sachet Loans backed by DMI Finance, which’ll start from the base price of Rs 15000 and can be paid back at Rs 111 to benefit SMBs, and mechant loan-based portfolios expansion, on account of collaborations with ICICI Bank and seamless repeat loans powered by Indifi. At the event, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Railways, and Electronics & Information Technology, launched the Digital pragati mission, to ensure digital access to credit.
In terms of consumer offerings, Google has revealed plans for enhancing the portfolio of Google Play’s personal loan plans in partnership with Axis Bank. “Earlier this year, Google Pay added the facility to add Rupay credit cards to the app, and using them to seamlessly make payments via UPI. Extending this functionality further, in collaboration with its PSP ICICI Bank, users can now avail credit lines from banks on UPI, and use it to make payments via Google Pay in the same way that they would with a UPI payment. Core to our approach to building products, these features have been built on a bedrock of responsibility, with data privacy, security, consent, and control underpinning all of these offerings,” the post specified.
“Just one of the four billion transactions that will pay for this amazing access is what will also give Indians access to special services like Google Search and Google Maps, which I use every day around the country. And actually, those two services alone will create 920 million connections to businesses around India as they look to thrive and scale,” Scott Beaumont, president, Google APAC, mentioned.
Moreover, Google also laid down plans for benefitting small businesses. “To help facilitate even better experiences for consumers and merchants, the shopping experience on Search is now getting even more helpful. We’re helping businesses show up in the best way for shoppers, and are expanding discovery for small businesses to engage even more customers,” the post highlighted. It’s believed that Google Search Engine will be subjected to certain visual alterations, to help people find new products and connect with merchants
Insights from the blog post suggest that local shops will have their products highlighted on Search, along with information on inventory, deals, and shipping timelines. At the event, Google gave importance on how online store catalogues can deliver more impressions and engagement. “Now with the new Google Merchant Center Next small businesses can do this using AI in an easy, intuitive way. When a merchant is setting up their business on Merchant Center Next, we’ll start automatically populating their online feed with information we can detect from their website – helping you save time. All the while allowing merchants full control on what gets added to their feed. It also offers valuable insights on top-selling products, enabling merchants to better plan for demand. It has started rolling out for new users and will be available for everyone early next year,” the blog post revealed.
