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Google, on Thursday, said that its payment platform Google Pay grew more than three times to 67 million monthly active users over the last one year, and has driven transactions worth more than $110 billion on an annualised basis across offline and online merchants.
Google Pay competes with Paytm, PhonePe, BharatPay and MobiKwik. Facebook-owned WhatsApp also runs a pilot version of its payment solution (WhatsApp Payment) right now, which is expected to launch any time soon.
Google said about two-thirds of the transactions come from tier-II and -III cities and towns, adding that Google will also roll out ‘tokenised’ cards that will enable users to make payments using debit and credit cards without using the actual card number.
This will initially be rolled out for Visa cards for HDFC, Axis, Kotak and Standard Chartered banks, and in the coming months, will also is also rolling out to cover Mastercard, Rupay, and more banks.
It also launched a new ‘Spot’ platform on Google Pay that will enable merchants to create a branded commercial experience without requiring to create any website or an app.
Meanwhile, Google also announced setting up of a new research lab in Bengaluru that will work on advancing artificial intelligence (AI)-related research with an aim to solve problems in sectors such as healthcare, retail, agriculture and education.
To be called Google Research India -- the AI lab, it will focus on advancing fundamental computer science and AI research.
“With a world-class engineering talent, strong computer science programmes and entrepreneurial drive, India has the potential to contribute to advancements in AI and its application to tackle big challenges,” Caeser Sengupta, Google Vice President Next Billion Users and Payments, said at Google for India event here.
Apart from the Google team led by AI scientist Manish Gupta, the company will partner with the research community across the country to focus on tackling challenges in fields like healthcare, agriculture, and education.
The new lab will also support Google’s global network of researchers, the company added.
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