Google Tez, a new UPI based payment application launched in India

Google has taken an initiative to make the digital payments more useful and common. Google Tez is a new digital payments app which is based on the UPI platform also used by the BHIM application. The Tez app works without any wallets and transfers are made directly from bank to bank without any extra charges. The application from Google is available on both Android and iOS platforms. Users must have iOS 8.2 or above or Android KitKat or above in order to install and use the application.

The Google Tez app is designed for India and it is made in India. The application currently supports seven regional languages. Google’s Ceaser Sengupta announced that Google has partnered with companies like Nokia, Micromax, Panasonic, Lava and Xolo in order to give the Tez app pre-loaded on their upcoming smartphones.

Commenting on the launch, Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, said “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”

According to Google, they have partnered up with HDFC, Axis, ICICI and SBI Bank in order to power the applications. However, the new payments app will support all the 55 banks which currently support UPI based payments.

In order to register into the applications, users will need a Gmail account as well as the mobile number registered with their bank account. The Tez app can be secured via the Android or iOS lock screen which can even be a fingerprint security. Alternatively, the application can also be secured via Google PIN which has to be set by the user. However, this will only be a way to get into the application while a user would still need a UPI PIN to make any kind of transactions.

To make the transactions even safer, Google has introduced Cash Mode through which users would not need to share their details in order to receive payments. The new Cash Mode uses the Audio QR technology which only uses the speaker and the microphone of the smartphone.