Google Expands Payment Offerings With UPI Circle, eRupi & ClickPay QR

As the Global Fintech Fest 2024 wrapped up today (August 30), tech giant Google has announced a slew of new features, including UPI Circle, eRupi and Clickpay QR scan for bill payments among others, expected to be rolled out to Google Pay users later this year.

In a blog post, Google said that it has teamed up with the National Payments Corporation of India to launch UPI Circle, which will allow users’ trusted contacts to make payments without having to link their own bank accounts. The monthly limit for secondary users is capped at INR 15,000.

Amid rapid growth of digital payments in the country, Google said it is also integrating UPI vouchers or eRupi into the Google Pay app, which will enable users to make payments using a prepaid voucher linked to their mobile number.

“Beneficiaries of these vouchers will be able to use any supporting UPI app including Google Pay to pay for all their supported merchant transactions without even linking their bank account on UPI,” Google said.

In its bid to streamline online bill payments, the tech giant has also partnered with the NPCI Bharat BillPay to bring in support for ClickPay QR on the Google Pay app. The feature will allow users to settle their bills by simply scanning a QR.

Additionally, Google Pay is introducing a feature called Prepaid Utilities that will allow users to keep track of all their recurring payments with a single checklist. 

Following in the footsteps of fintech startups such as PayU, Google is also enabling the ‘tap and pay’ feature on the Google Pay app for RuPay cards. Users will also soon be able to make automatic top-ups to their UPI Lite wallet, Google said.

The development comes at a time when fintech giants such as Paytm, PhonePe and CRED among others are expanding their product catalogue to woo customers amid rising competition in the payments space . 

For instance, Walmart-backed PhonePe recently launched a credit line on UPI as well as rolled out a pre-approved term life insurance feature.  Meanwhile, Kunal Shah-led CRED has unveiled an offering that enables users to monitor their bank account balance, and also alerts them for recurring payments beyond credit card transactions.

It is pertinent to note that Google Pay and its rival PhonePe have a near duopoly in the UPI ecosystem. As per NPCI data, PhonePe commanded a market share of 48.3% while Google Pay’s market share stood at 37% as of July.

Last month, PhonePe registered 6.98 Bn transactions worth INR 10.28 Lakh Cr, followed by Google Pay with 5.34 Bn transactions worth INR 7.35 Lakh Cr, and Paytm with 1.12 Bn transactions worth INR 1.23 Lakh Cr.