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Context:
- Google’s entry into India’s payment wallet app market
What is Google Tez?
- Google Tez is a mobile wallet based on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform built by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
How does it work?
- It permits users to transfer money without the recipient’s bank account details.
- The UPI ID of the recipient is used as a proxy for the account number and IFSC code, thereby simplifying the money transfer.
How is it different from digital wallets?
- Tez does not require money to be stored in the app to make digital payments.
- It works as an extension of one’s bank account; so, unused money remains in the bank, earning interest.
- Each transaction is initiated by the sender entering his UPI pin with the additional security of existing phone locks.
How can you transfer money using Tez?
- Can be used on an Android or an iOS device
- Users have to sync their wallets with their Google account, and the mobile number linked to it.
- Access to the wallet from the app drawer is protected by a Google PIN and by security settings on the device, such as passcodes, fingerprints and pattern locks.
- Integration of one’s bank account with the wallet is done via SMS
- Integration will not be completed if the phone number associated with the account does not match
- Non-Resident Indian (NRI) account is not supported for this feature.
- Users without a UPI id will have to create one and enter a secure UPI pin.
What are the other features included?
- Users also have the option of making transfers to bank accounts by entering the account number of the recipient and the related IFSC code.
- Payments can be made by using the camera to scan a QR code, or entering the phone number of the recipient.
- The app automatically identifies contacts who have successfully registered with the Tez database.
- A fourth alternative is the ‘Cash Mode’ that allows quick transfers with nearby Tez users without sharing phone numbers.
- Cash Mode can be used to pay as well as receive money from devices within its range.
