After the government’s digital push, there created a class of customers in small-town and rural India like are small merchants, students, employees and farmers who are willing to transact on their smartphones. Due to demonetization, India no. of smartphone users in India reached to 300 million. Considering the no. of smartphone users, it is estimated to have 650 million internet users in India by 2020.
Understanding this need, Google also created a digital payment app. Targeting non-English-speaking people of India who are new or recent internet users, the techno giant Google named its digital payment app ‘Tez’. Tez is a hindi word which means ‘FAST’ in English. With such a name given to app, it is clear what the company wants.
Although there are several digital payment apps such as Paytm, MobiKwik, and government’s own Bhim app available to users in India, this initiative of Google speaks aloud. As these people are too numerous so it is important for a company to win their trust. The Hindi name, Tez, resonates with these people and also effectively conveys that they need this app if they want to make quick transactions.
Using Tez app, customers can make payments in three ways. First one is the through UPI (Unified Payments Interface) ID which is government supported system of digital transactions. Second is QR code mode in which users scan and make the related payment. And third and final is using mobile numbers. To carry out transactions with Tez, one should link Aadhar number to bank account number.
Supported by India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Tez mobile app enables users to instantly make transactions at zero charge. Launched by the National Payments Corp. of India (NPCI), UPI is a payments system that facilitates instant fund transfers between two bank accounts on a mobile platform, without the need for including any details of the beneficiary’s bank.
Caesar Sengupta, Vice president, Next Billion Users team, at Google said “Tez has been made for India and will make payments as simple as cash.”
To differentiate this app from others, Google has introduced proximity feature which allows users to make cash transactions too.
image credit: livemint
This app can be used by both Android and Apple iOS users. Google said that Tez will work with all 55 banks which are on the UPI platform. Available in English and seven Indian languages (Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu, Tez has an edge over other digital payment apps. Google has done partnership with four Banks—Axis Bank Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd, ICICI Bank Ltd, and State Bank of India (SBI) for the banking solutions.
Google executives met Mr. Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister and Minister of Corporate Affairs in January to discuss the idea of Tez. “The Google team was extremely keen because they saw a great potential, both in the economy and the businesses in India, in joining this campaign,” said Jaitley.
To make people Tez user friendly, Google has also made partnership with mobile companies like Micromax, Lava, Panasonic and Nokia.
