After P2P and bill payments, Google pilots payments service for offline retailers

Search engine behemoth Google considers India as one of the key markets in the world. And it is doing everything possible to win the market by offering services one after another every few months.

After emerging as one of the top payments apps on UPI in the country, Google is now piloting offline payments service, where the next battle is expected to be fought on, for retailers or Kirana stores.

In the new payment service, the consumers will have to share only his mobile number, where through the sent UPI PIN transactions will be made offline, said sources close to the development. The pilots are run across small retail stores in the country.

Google plans to roll out the services once pilots are done in the next few weeks. The search engine behemoth vision is to provide fast and secure payments for users anywhere or anytime.

The offline ecosystem forms an important part of our objective to provide a seamless experience to users transacting with Google Pay, Ambarish Kenghe, director, product management, Google Pay quoted as saying by ET report.

Google in coming days also plans to also run localised promotional campaigns for consumers. It aims to target the consumer-retail interface through the services.

Google's move is on the lines of similar initiatives by its competitors like Paytm and PhonePe in India. They allow users to make payments at Kirana stores, vegetable or fruit shops, and restaurants among many other places with Paytm QR codes.

In terms of UPI transactions, Paytm alone clocked 221 million transaction volume in January. Whereas PhonePe and Google Pay recorded about 220 million UPI transaction where total transaction hovered around 672 million.

Soon, the payment space is expected to witness fierce competition with new players such as Xiaomi-owned Mi Pay, Amazon and Reliance Jio planning to provide similar services.

With digital payment firms are now aggressively expanding their services for offline consumers and merchants, it will majorly come down to a better experience.

Now the question is, who will be that one firm providing simple and holistic payment experience for both digital and offline Indian consumers?