Google Pay users in India, who recently got new features tailored to improve their privacy, are set to get another support that should help ease their transaction process at merchant establishments.
Google Pay now lets users make contactless payments via NFC (Near Field Communication) technology on their phone for UPI (Unified Payments Interface) transactions - UPI is an instant real-time payment system facilitating inter-bank transactions.
So far, Google Pay users in India, who wanted to transfer money for purchases at merchant establishments through their smart phones, had to scan the relevant QR code or type in the UPI ID of the merchant.
- More than 6.1 billion people will use digital payments by 2023
- Google Pay to kill its web app feature
How to use NFC for Google Pay
Now, quite simply, users just need to hold their smartphones near the NFC terminal, and enter the amount.
Voila, the transaction will zip fast.
Of course, users have to have a Google Pay account and an NFC chip on their phones. If users have NFC chip on their phones, they need to tap and turn it on to make the payments work.
The Google Pay Support page says that as of now only Pine Lab terminals work with UPI payments over NFC. But more players will get to the fray shortly.
Recently, Google Pay added credit and debit cards too to the list of payment methods instead of paying directly from a linked bank account.
Currently, Google Pay supports Axis Bank credit/debit and SBI credit cards in India. Going forward, more credit/debit cards will be onboarded.
When you add a credit or debit card as a payment method, Google Pay will create a virtual account number known as a 'token' that replaces your card’s actual number. This process, called 'tokenisation', keeps your personal and financial information private.
Once your token has been created and your card has been verified as a payment method, you can use your card to pay merchants in your day-to-day transactions.
