Is it going to be Google Pay vs Paytm in the Digital Transaction Sector?

Digital transaction is the new phenomenon that is not set to go anywhere anytime soon. According to data released by the RBI, digital transactions worth Rs 93,860 crore were seen during May at PoS terminals, while the volume of such transactions was 466 million. Paytm undoubtedly is the most popular e-commerce payment system and digital wallet company in India as of now. Recently, media reports suggested that American Business Magnate Warren was looking to invest in the company.

Paytm as of January 2018 is valued at 10 billion dollars, and is only set to grow after it launched products like Paytm Cloud recently. Paytm, which is available in 10 Indian languages, offers online mobile recharges, utility bill payments, travel, movies and payment to even groceries, restaurants education institutions to name a few. The payments are carried out using the Paytm QR code. Currently, 7 million merchants across India use this QR code to accept payments directly into their bank account at 3 percent fee. The company also uses advertisements and paid promotional content to generate revenues.

In what seems like a bid to do the same, Google today announced in its Google for India event in New Delhi that it is changing Google Tez platform to Google Pay. The payment platform that started as a bank based payments is now planning an extended push into retail, both online and offline, similar to what Paytm is already doing. Google Pay now supports payment to Dishtv, Redbus, MI, goIbibo, FreshMenu, Bookmyshow, Jet Airways, Nykaa, Reliance, Croma, Food Panda, and Zerodha. Google Pay also works with all banks that support BHIM UPI like Axis, HDFC, ICICV and SBI.

The Tez app has pulled in 55 million downloads, and Google said it has racked up 750 million transactions with an annual run rate of over 2 lakh crore transaction value. Google Pay also plans to expand its operations overseas, unlike Paytm which is operational only in India as of now. Google Pay is also offering features wherein money can be sent to another Google Pay user nearby without needing to share private details like bank accounts or phone numbers.

Google Pay is also enabling users to send or receive money with zero fees, directly from their bank account to whoever they desire, regardless of the fact that the recipient is on Google Pay or not. Google Pay supports Indian languages like English, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu and Google says that it will add more Indian languages to this platform soon. Although Google Pay is a comparatively new player when seen with Paytm, how it manages to take on the latter and further rake in users can only be seen in the days to come.