Google Pay, in a tie-up with Pine Labs, has announced the launch of Tap to Pay for UPI transactions in India, a feature hitherto available only for debit and credit cards.
To make a payment, users can just tap their phone on the POS terminal and authenticate it by using their UPI PIN. The process is instantaneous as opposed to scanning a QR code, or entering the UPI-linked mobile number.
The facility will be available to UPI users who want to use their NFC-enabled Android smartphone to transact using any Pine Labs Android POS terminal across the country.
This has been piloted with Reliance Retail and will also be available at other large merchants such as Future Retail and Starbucks. For the record, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions are an instant real-time payment system facilitating inter-bank transactions.
Acceptance of UPI platform to zoom
Sajith Sivanandan, Business Head - Google Pay and Next Billion User initiatives, Google APAC said, "Fintech growth in India is writing the playbook for the world, first with enabling real-time payments with UPI, and further, by innovating with flows that make the transaction time virtually zero. Tap to Pay for UPI has profound implications for high traffic retail outlets, with queue management hassles poised to be greatly reduced, and taking digital payments at POS well beyond cards. We are very excited to bring this first-ever innovation to India, in collaboration with Pine Labs."
Kush Mehra, Chief Business Officer, Pine Labs said, "We believe this will further strengthen UPI acceptance in India and appeal to consumers, especially the youth population who have taken a liking for contactless and digital payments.”
Nalin Bansal, Chief of Corporate and Fintech Relationships and Key Initiatives, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said, "With the growing adoption of UPI, this first-of-its-kind functionality with Google Pay and Pine Labs will augment the customer experience and pave the way for a smarter and faster payment experience. Interoperability has always been a winning proposition for UPI, and this will be a step ahead in transforming the way real-time digital transactions are conducted especially in retail merchants."
Google Pay already lets users make contactless payments via NFC (Near Field Communication) technology on their phone for UPI.
Since the pilot launch of UPI in April 2016, more than 304 banks are live on the system and users have made over 4.5 billion transactions worth over 8.26 lakh crore rupees.
Pine Labs is a leading merchant commerce platform, and offers payment acceptance and merchant commerce solutions. Incorporated in Singapore, Pine Labs' key investors include Sequoia India, Actis Capital, Temasek, PayPal and Mastercard.
Just yesterday, Pine Labs had announced a new investment of $50 million from Vitruvian Partners, a London-headquartered international investment firm.
