Global players to launch digital wallets in India
Google plans to launch its Android Pay digital wallet on the National Payments Corporation of India's (NPCI's) unified payments interface (UPI), according to an unnamed source with knowledge of the matter. Stripe and WhatsApp also plan to target the Indian market with their digital payments platforms on the UPI, other sources stated. The involvement of global players will increase the number of UPI users from 50 million to 100 million in the next year, NPCI COO Dilip Abse said. Accounting for 6.9 million transactions in April, the UPI facilitates the instant transfer of funds between bank accounts via a mobile device.
Google is preparing to introduce its digital wallet, Android Pay, in India this year, anchoring the platform to the government-backed Unified Payments Interface as are other global companies including Stripe and WhatsApp.

BENGALURU:

is preparing to introduce its digital wallet,

, in India this year, anchoring the platform to the government-backed Unified Payments Interface as are other global companies including

and

.

Google has started testing

on its Android Pay platform, said one person aware of the developments. Another person tracking smartphone brands said Google was evaluating an entry for Android Pay into India through UPI.

A third person said Stripe -- the San Francisco-based

that allows businesses in more than 100 countries to easily accept all kinds of digital payments -- was in advanced talks to launch in India through a partnership with UPI. Last month, AP Hota, managing director of National Payments Corporation of India that developed UPI, said messaging service WhatsApp had shown interest in UPI for the launch of its new payments platform here.

Dilip Asbe, chief operating officer at

, told ET that three global companies had approached the agency in recent months expressing their desire to work with UPI. He declined to identify the companies citing non-disclosure agreements.

"They see UPI as a simple, seamless payment option with a mobile focus, which is what these companies are interested in," Asbe said. "If these global players put their weight behind UPI, it will definitely give a big push to UPI to reach 50 million to 100 million users in the next few years. We are expecting that these companies will roll out their UPI products this year."

Google and Stripe, in response to queries from ET, did not specifically comment on their entry into India's payments market.

"We are always looking for ways to make it easy for people to pay with their mobile devices, such as Android Pay in some countries, and looking to expand those capabilities to the next billion users," a Google spokesperson said.

Google recently announced a payment API (application programming interface) that will open up all Android smartphones to online payments, making it suitable for India's cashless drive, ET reported this week.

Google launched Android Pay in the US in 2015 and has since introduced the service in several countries, including the UK, Russia, Australia, Singapore and Japan. In these regions, it has partnered with multiple banks to enable quick and easy in app and contactless transactions through Android Pay.

The Indian government-backed UPI links bank accounts to facilitate quick and seamless transactions and got a big thrust recently with the Narendra Modi administration's push towards cashless payments.According to NPCI data, about 6.9 million transactions were carried out through UPI in April.

The timing is right for global digital payments companies to enter India through UPI as there are no established winners in that world yet, said Sanjay Swamy, partner at Prime Venture Partners and an and an investor in financial technology startups including Hapay and KredX.

"UPI is truly well-suited for peer-to-peer and other on-phone payments experiences. This makes it a fit for WhatsApp and for purchase fit for WhatsApp and for purchasing apps or payments in-app for the

store," said Swamy.

"As far as Stripe is concerned, it's really a payment gateway. As they do not directly have a large consumer base, their motivations are more to enable UPI for their overseas clients targeting Indian consumers and for Indian companies as a part of a broader payments acceptance offering."

Recently, communications platform

launched a UPI-based mobile payment solution in partnership with ICICI Bank. Last month,

went live with UPI. ET recently reported that Indian messaging startup Hike Messenger was also set to launch payments through UPI. While internet giant has started testing UPI on Android Pay, Stripe is looking to launch here soon

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