Caesar Sengupta, Vice-President, Next Billion Users initiative and Payments, Google, reminded that “building for India has often meant Google building for everyone all around the world.” He announced that payments app Tez is becoming Google Pay.
At the moment, nothing is changing about the experience in India other than the name. The home screen has the same familiar contacts, mobile recharges are still just one tap away, and of course, sending a gift with a Happy Birthday spark, or paying a merchant direct from one’s bank account with no fees is as quick and easy as ever. In coming weeks and months, Google is making Pay even more useful through expanding the places users can pay in-store and online, expanding services for merchants, and working with the banks to provide instant loans to Google Pay users.
Sengupta also announced that Google Station is partnering with Andhra Pradesh State FiberNet Limited to bring Google Station to over 12 thousand villages, towns and cities in Andhra Pradesh — potentially 10M people. This will provide high-quality Internet access to areas that have never been connected before, from hospitals in cities like Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam, to Gram panchayats, primary health care centers and other public places across many villages. And finally, Android Go smartphones will see further momentum with the first Android Go phone soon coming from Samsung.
