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Google has partnered with banks and other lenders in India to offer loans on the Google Pay app to individuals and merchants, as the tech giant expands its Indian payments app, which processes about 4 billion transactions monthly , and makes its strongest efforts for financial inclusion in the South. Asian market.
The company has partnered with Axis Bank, allowing the lender to offer loans to individuals on Google Pay and has tied up with ICICI Bank for credit lines to merchants in addition to UPI, said Ambrish Kenghe, vice president, Google Pay. told TechCrunch in an interview. Credit on these loans for individuals is limited to around $9,600 and the lending partner clearly explains the loan terms – interest rate and term – at the time of onboarding.
Even though nearly a billion people in India have bank accounts, they are still not depositing significant amounts of money in those accounts to build meaningful profiles for credit bureaus. As a result, India’s credit bureau data book remains thin, making it difficult for banks and other financial institutions to instill confidence in lending to the majority of the population of the world’s most populous country.
He said, about 50% of the personal loans issued through Google Pay in India so far are of less than $360 in size and 80% of all these loans have been given to Indians living in smaller cities and towns.
Kanghe has a personal story with this challenge. The Google executive told the audience at the company’s annual India event on Thursday that when he needed financial help to pursue higher education, his uncle stepped in to pay. He said, “Without it, it’s fair to assume I wouldn’t be standing here today.”
“The way we think about payments is geo-transfer of money. What will make a huge difference is the time-shifting money that is credit. It creates opportunity, growth and development,” he told TechCrunch.
Of course, Google isn’t making the loans itself, nor is it underwriting the customers. “What we are doing is enabling credit, simplifying the process and working with the industry to ensure accountability,” he said. He said Google will ensure that it does not create unnecessary risks for lenders and does not put excessive pressure on borrowers.
The company is also enabling lenders to offer one-time loans, starting at around $180, to merchants hoping to meet their small credit needs, with simple repayment options. The US giant said Google has also partnered with ePayLater to offer credit lines to merchants to meet their working capital needs.
Google has also partnered with HDFC Bank to extend support for the RuPay card network, allowing individuals to make merchant transactions directly through their UPI credit line. Google said that it has also partnered with ICICI Bank to provide credit facilities to customers.
Google Pay, the payments rail built by a consortium of banks, is the No. 2 most popular app for transactions on the UPI network. Google providing loans to consumers is a win and the need of the hour for India, where both individuals and businesses have traditionally had to rely on predatory lenders.
