Google payment app Tez sees a slow start; people call it “buggy”

NEW DELHI: Internet giant Google on Monday forayed into the crowded but promising space of payment solutions in the country with the launch of its ‘Tez’ application.

Built on the governmentbacked Unified Payment Interface (UPI) platform, the app allows users to do financial transactions like sending money and receiving payments directly into bank accounts of individuals and merchants.

Designed in a chat-like interface, Google has released Tez on both Android and Apple iOS platforms. Google has partnered with four banks — Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and State Bank of India (SBI) — for the solution. While they will be exclusive platform partners, Tez will work with all 55 banks who are on the UPI platform, Google said.

“Tez has been made for India and will make payments as simple as cash,” said Caesar Sengupta, vice president, Next Billion Users team, at Google.

It comes with features that Google said makes it easy and safe to use. To tap into the large merchant base with whom people may not be comfortable sharing their details, Tez offers a feature called Cash Mode where one can pay without sharing bank details or phone number. This is done through technology called audio QR that works like near field communication (NFC) and uses ultrasound waves to connect two phones through microphone and speaker.



Google said the technology took months of testing to fine tune and is built on UPI’s bank to bank transfer platform.

Tez also syncs with contact list of the user’s phone, making it easier to transact, and it’s accepted at all the places where UPI is accepted. The app also boasts of multiple security layers.

Rajan Anandan, vice president for South East Asia and India at Google, said there are 300 million people in the country accessing internet on smartphones today. “Over 650 million are expected to use Internet by 2020 and Google’s mission is to provide Internet for everyone,” he said.

Digital payments have got a huge push post the government’s demonetisation exercise in November last year. According to government estimates, digital economy has the potential to go up to $1trillion in the next few years.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley, who was present at the official launch of Tez, observed that during November, December and January a lot of people made digital payments more out of compulsion than finding it a more convenient method to transact. But that compulsion created a habit for many, he said.

“We reached a peak figure (after the demonetisation), then it marginally slipped and is now bound to pick up again,” Jaitley said.

Tez, which was being tested for some time now, already has 50,000 users who have processed 16,000 transactions worth Rs 11 lakh.

“Now, the time has come with an application as simple as this that what started as compulsion has become a matter of convenience and eventually a matter of spending habit as far as Indian people are concerned,” said Jaitley.

Over the last one year, the payment space in India has become very exciting with several large players foraying into it. The list includes ecommerce majors Amazon and Flipkart and taxi aggregator Uber that recently launched UPI payments through its app. Apple is also said to be working on a payments solution for India.

Google has also enabled merchants to use the Tez platform to receive payments directly through the app but promised only businesses that consumers transact with will be able to use the feature and there will be “no spamming”.

Sengupta said Google is also working on integrating credit and debit card payments through Tez and will enable it later this year. Google has also struck exclusive partnerships with mobile manufacturers such as Micromax, Xolo (which is a Lava sub-brand), Nokia and Panasonic.

All of Lava’s upcoming phones will come with Tez pre-installed while Panasonic will launch 5-6 models with built-in Tez from November onwards.