Google India on 19 October announced a range of credit-focused products for consumers and merchants, including sachet loans on the Google Pay application to help small businesses in the country.
The online payment service provider plans to partner with banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) to fortify its financial services offerings in India going ahead to create products aimed at addressing the credit gap in Bharat.
It has also enabled a credit line for merchants in partnership with ePayLater aiming to solve challenges around capital requirements of merchants. Gpay is also offering sachet loans in partnership with DMI Finance, starting at Rs 15000 with EMIs starting from as low as Rs 111.
Google India launched credit lines on UPI in collaboration with its payment service providers (PSPs) HDFC and ICICI Bank, and has now expanded the portfolio of personal loans on Google Pay by partnering with Axis Bank.
“We are excited to partner with GPay, which is a leading UPI App both in terms of users and volumes. The partnership will enable the Bank to reach out to a new and larger customer base, providing them with greater convenience and ease of financial transactions through a seamless user journey,” said Rajiv Anand, Deputy Managing Director, Axis Bank.
These products are underwritten by regulator-authorised financial institutions and made available to users through the Google Pay platform, the firm said.
This comes a year after Google Pay announced its partnership with small businesses-focused lending platform Indifi to source new lending opportunities from merchants.
These announcements were made at the 9th Edition of Google for India 2023 annual event at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.
Also Read: Google for India 2023: Increasing access to formal credit using Gen AI on agenda, Google India VP
Speaking at the event, Ambarish Kenghe, vice-president at Google Pay highlighted that ₹167 lakh crore value was processed through UPI in the last 12 months. He further added that majority of the loans disbursed through Google Pay to borrowers with less than ₹30,000 of monthly income, belong to tier 2 towns and beyond.
These products also form the foundation of Google Pay’s Digital Pragati initiative, aimed at growing economic opportunity for every Indian.
“Over 350 million Indians are transacting digitally, a number that is larger than the population of some of the world’s largest countries. Google Pay is proud to have played a role in the success of UPI and is committed to working with RBI, NPCI, and its partners in the financial ecosystem to grow it from strength to strength,” Google India added.
