Google Pay as the name suggest, it is a digital payment platform developed by Google to empower the user to pay through mobile. With the help of Google Pay, a user can transfer money from one account to another account, recharge his mobile phone, pay utility bills and much more.
History of Google Pay
Google pay not something which has come up suddenly. Earlier it was known as Google Wallet and then after Android Pay. On January 8, 2018, the Android Pay and Google Wallet have been merged into a single payment system called Google Pay. Thus, Google pay would continue to have all the features of Android Pay.
In India, Google has launched its peer to peer payment app called TEZ in September 2017. The app has got a fantastic response from the users. The app has more than 22 million people and businesses as an active user every month. People are using Tez to pay their utility bills, book movie tickets, and bus tickets, split payment with friends and so on. The app has registered over 750 million transactions without any glitch what so ever. The app has reported over 200 thousand crore rupees worth of transactions till now.
The integration of the Google Pay app is extending to various platforms, including the web, applications, and in-store experiences across different Google products. Google is actively broadening its presence by partnering with an increasing number of merchants for online payments, collaborating with platforms such as Goibibo, redBus, and BookMyShow. Presently, Google Pay boasts a merchant network of approximately 1.2 million and continues to grow steadily with each passing day.
On August 28, 2018, the Tez is rebranded as Google Pay. The app has its unique features which you may even not noticed at first glance. These are
- Familiar contacts on your home screen
- One touch mobile recharge
- Irresistible Deals and offers
What is Google Pay
Google Pay is the peer to peer money transfer app works on the UPI platform in India. It is the simplest way to send or receive money to anyone anywhere in India. Send or receive money with zero fees. You need not be a user of Google Pay to send or receive money through the app.
Recharge your mobile in just a click, pay your utility bills on Google Pay. Pay to merchants online and offline at the stores. You can see your past transactions in the app so that it makes it easy to check where your money is gone!
You can easily pay and receive money instantly to your existing bank accounts. For doing so, you don’t need to load the money first into Google Pay. The app will directly transfer the money from your bank account. It uses the UPI platform so all the leading banks who support UPI can be used to transfer money.
Features of the App
- Transfer money directly from your bank account, no loading into the wallet
- Pay without sharing your personal information
- Pay to your friends straight from your contact list
- Pay via QR code or UPI ID
- Earn rewards on every transaction
- All your transactions are secured
- works on both Android and iOS
- Available in 8 Indian languages
- Exciting offers every week
How to get started with Google Pay?
Follow the below simple steps to get started with Google pay. You need to have an internet connection, Indian mobile number and Indian Bank account to use Google Pay app.
- Download the app for Android and iOS
- Log in with your Google account
- Enter your mobile number
- Set the password
- Link your existing bank account
- You are good to go
Steps to add a bank account
- Pre-condition is that your bank must be live with UPI, check with your bank
- Open the app
- Go to your profile (click on your photo) and go to Bank account
- Click on Add bank account
- Choose your bank from the list, your bank must be on the list to work with the app
- If you are an existing UPI user, you will be asked to enter the PIN number
- If you are a first time user, you need to provide your debit card details
- You can add more than one bank account into the app
- Click on the bank account you wish to make as the primary account
- To check your UPI ID, click on the bank account, you will find the associate UPI ID under “UPI IDs”
- To check your account balance, tap on the bank account for which you want to check the balance, then click on the view statement, it will ask for the UPI PIN, please enter the correct UPI PIN to view your account statement
How to send money via google pay app?
There are four ways you can send money to anyone in India. These are:
- Name
- Phone number
- UPI ID (typically friendname@bankname)
- Bank Account and IFSC code
To send money via app follow the below steps.
- OPen the app
- Swipe up from the bottom of the app
- Under the payment option, tap a contact
- If the person you want to send money doesn’t appear in the contact, then tap “new” and search for them by name, phone number, account number etc.
- Click on the “Pay”
- Enter the amount you wish to pay
- Click on “Proceed to Pay”
- Enter the PIN number and you are done
On the successful transaction, you will get the SMS from your bank from which you have transferred the money.
Send money via QR Code
There is a second method through which you can send money to people or merchants around you. Here is how:
- Both the person should be using Google Pay app
- Open the app on both the phones
- Slide screen up to “Pay” and ask another person to slide down to “Receive”
- Scan the QR code
- Enter the amount you wish to transfer
- Click on “Proceed to Pay”
- Enter your UPI PIN to complete the authorization
On the successful transaction, you will get an SMS from your bank.
There is another way to pay at stores via NFC (near field communication) technology. Here is a video tutorial on how to use NFC to transfer money on google pay.
How does Google Pay make money?
Well, as of now google pay is not making much through its app. Currently, their strategy is to build a massive customer base in the payment industry. Once this is done and it becomes a major player in the payment industry, then Google will start earning from its merchant’s network, offering various products and services, cross-selling other financial products like we have seen above that they are coming up with the instant loans.
Google has created an eco-system around us offering many product and services we use in our daily life. Thus it will be very easy for them to pitch you any product you want. Right now they are making a good ground for themselves.
As they are new into the payments business, they are offering a huge cashback of up to Rs. 1000 to attract more and more customers to use their app. Rewarding a large sum of cashback is like an investment for them.
More the users use this app, the more the data they have to analyze to conclude on the user’s spending behaviors. They can check:
- They are using a referral program to acquire new customers, which is the cheapest method in the industry
- Where you live and how much you spend in that locality
- The spending split between basic needs and luxury
- This helps them to decide, what sort of schemes they come up with to lure you to spend more
- They know your likes and dislikes and your purchasing power
- In a way, they know your income and spending habits without your knowledge
- They can use this data to tie up with other companies who in turn will offer their products to you. In the process, Google Pay will earn its cut from the company
Google Pay for Business
If you are running a business and want to receive a payment via Google Pay, this is for you. Using the app for payments from the customer, you can collect money faster, easily and more securely. As a merchant, you need to have a UPIC (Universal Payment Identification Code) to use Google Pay for goods and services.
How to become a merchant?
Below are the requirement for becoming a Google pay merchant.
- You must be running your business in India
- You must have an Indian phone number, a computer, and a Gmail account
- You need to provide basic business details like your business name, address, phone number, merchant category code, virtual payment address, bank account details etc.
Below are the benefits you will get as a merchant for using the app
- Get found: Google Pay help you to list your business in local are and thus helps you to be found by the customer nearby.
- Low cost: It offers payment remittance at a very nominal charge as compared to other traditional channels.
- Fast and secure: Setting up google pay account is very simple and fast. It also offers the great security as its backed up by Google.
- As a merchant, you will get 24X7 support from the Google team.
The roadmap
Google Pay is not just a peer to peer payment app or is not restricted to do mobile recharge or paying utility bills, it’s going to be a huge game changer in how we make payments at every place. Google Pay will provide a personal loan to its selected users based on their profile.
For this, they have partnered with HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank Federal Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank. The Google Pay will offer the pre-approved loan to their users right into the app. The user will have to accept the offer and with minimal paperwork, the money will be credited to their bank account.
Same way, Google Pay will be integrated with Gmail so that you can pay to merchant from the email itself. These are just the beginning of the new era of digital payments.
How to get rewards with Google Pay App?
There are three methods by which you can earn cash from Google Pay App.
- Referral rewards
- Scratch cards
- Lucky Fridays
Let’s check them out one-by-one.
Referral rewards
This one is like the most common referral program where you have to invite your friends to join Google Pay. You can earn 50 rewards points by inviting your friend. You will get the reward once the friend uses your referral code for registering into the app and makes the first payment to anyone.
It will take around five working days to get the rewards in your account. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to send referral invitation to your friends.
- Go to the “Payments” and click on NEW
- Scroll down to the bottom and tap “Invite friends to Google Pay”
- Select the method through which you want to invite your friends
- Click on “Send”
- Your friend will get the invitation along with your referral code
- He has to open the app and enter your referral code
- If the code entered by your friend is correct, he will get a success message
- Your friend needs to make the first payment
- As soon as your friend makes the first payment you become eligible for a reward
- The reward will be credited to your linked bank account within five days
- Add your bank account to google pay
- Send/Receive money using Google Pay, you will get a scratch card in your Rewards section
- Click on the Rewards
- Click on Play Now
- Then follow the on-screen instruction to find out how much cash you have won
- The prize money will be deposited into your bank account within 48 hours
Lucky Friday
Here is the third method to earn cash rewards of Rs. 100000 for participating in Google Pay Luckey Friday Draw.
- Use Google Pay to send Rs. 500 or more to another user
- You will become eligible for lucky lakh draw
- You will get the entry card, click on Play now
- Follow the on-screen instruction to find out if you won the prize or not
- If you win, tap Claim now and enter your PAN number
- The prize money will be deposited into your bank account within 48 hours
Here are the general terms and conditions for getting the cash rewards.
How is Google Pay different from the Paytm and BHIM App?
There are some distinct features that Google Pay offers like:
- Easy to use the app as compared to Paytm and BHIM
- You will get cash back on each transaction
- You can link up to four bank account in Google Pay
- Set primary account from any of the linked bank account easily
- Check account balance within the app for any of your linked accounts
- Unique UPI pin for each of the linked bank account
Conclusion:
The app is from the Google so you don’t have to worry too much about the authenticity and security. It offers various features and tons of cash back as of now. So you should use it and earn cash back for your self. There is nothing wrong in getting some bucks for making payments. It’s a win-win situation for Google and you.
If you are already using the TEZ app, you must have received the cash back on your transactions. Please let me know the highest amount of cash back you have received by commenting below in the comment section.