Google for India: Now pay your utility bills through Tez app
According to Google, the company's newly launched digital payment mobile app, Tez, has over 12 million users, and has seen 140 million transactions. The app would soon feature payments for merchants too.
- Dec 5, 2017,
- Updated Dec 12, 2017 4:34 PM IST
If internet is an important part of life, especially in urban India, Google is the most vital component of it. From Google search, Android apps, to Google maps and YouTube, urban India, especially youth, swears by Google. Within a few years after big tech companies realised India as a lucrative market for internet and related services - thanks to our enormous population - there has been an exponential rise in the internet penetration. But, don't be mistaken, India is still in its tender age when it comes to the internet usage. The country with over 1.3 billion people - and just 400 million internet users so far - has so much more to offer to these tech giants that it is imperative for them to put India on top of their priority when it comes to research, innovation, product launch and customer base. And, being a market leader, Google is eager to own the Indian internet market with an array of products and features.
'Google for India ', an event that started in New Delhi on Tuesday, is a part of the company's "commitment to India's next billion users" and its "role as a growth engine for the country". The first speaker of the event, Rajan Anadan, VP South East Asia and India for Google, talked about the internet usage and its future for India. He said with India becoming a huge broadband market - a connected mobile user in India consumes 4GB data a month - the figure could reach 11GB in the next four years. According to Google, the company's newly launched digital payment mobile app, Tez, has over 12 million users, and has seen 140 million transactions. The app would soon feature payments for merchants too.
The app also allows users to make all kinds of payments, big or small, directly from your bank account with Tez. Business owners and shops can use the Tez app with their individual current account to start accepting digital payments. Payment goes directly to your bank account - all with no fees. The company also announced the launch of bill payments on Tez. So from Tuesday onwards, one can even pay bills for Airtel, ACT, Tata Power, DishTV, DoCoMo, and other utility providers. The app also has a feature to detect all unpaid bills.
Google has also partnered with Reliance Jio to launch Google Assistant for the Mukesh Ambani-led company's JioPhone, a feature phone that comes for Rs 1,500, and has features similar to a smartphone (it's a 4G LTE phone). Google Assistant would provide the JioPhone users quick information on searches through text and voice-related searches. Google said India holds the number one spot when it comes to Google Play, with over 1 billion app downloads every month. During the event, it was also revealed that over 28 per cent of search queries in India were done by voice, and that there's been over 400 per cent year on year rise in Hindi voice searches.
Recently, Google, in association with Pluralsight and Udacity, said it would offer scholarships to 130,000 developers and students across India. In this joint effort, Google is sponsoring 100,000 scholarships on the Pluralsight learning platform and 30 thousand scholarships on Udacity to help developers gain access to advanced learning curriculum and further their employability in emerging technologies such as Mobile and Web development, Machine Learning, AR/VR, Artificial Intelligence, and Cloud Platforms. This scholarship programme is in continuation of Google's plans to train two million developers in India, to help spur innovation and support the growth of India's start-up ecosystem. Since the last year and a half, Google has trained over a thousand faculty over 400 colleges and 11 state universities for the technologies of the future which has already benefited 75000 students, said William Florance, Developer Products Group and Skilling Lead for India, Google.
If internet is an important part of life, especially in urban India, Google is the most vital component of it. From Google search, Android apps, to Google maps and YouTube, urban India, especially youth, swears by Google. Within a few years after big tech companies realised India as a lucrative market for internet and related services - thanks to our enormous population - there has been an exponential rise in the internet penetration. But, don't be mistaken, India is still in its tender age when it comes to the internet usage. The country with over 1.3 billion people - and just 400 million internet users so far - has so much more to offer to these tech giants that it is imperative for them to put India on top of their priority when it comes to research, innovation, product launch and customer base. And, being a market leader, Google is eager to own the Indian internet market with an array of products and features.
'Google for India ', an event that started in New Delhi on Tuesday, is a part of the company's "commitment to India's next billion users" and its "role as a growth engine for the country". The first speaker of the event, Rajan Anadan, VP South East Asia and India for Google, talked about the internet usage and its future for India. He said with India becoming a huge broadband market - a connected mobile user in India consumes 4GB data a month - the figure could reach 11GB in the next four years. According to Google, the company's newly launched digital payment mobile app, Tez, has over 12 million users, and has seen 140 million transactions. The app would soon feature payments for merchants too.
The app also allows users to make all kinds of payments, big or small, directly from your bank account with Tez. Business owners and shops can use the Tez app with their individual current account to start accepting digital payments. Payment goes directly to your bank account - all with no fees. The company also announced the launch of bill payments on Tez. So from Tuesday onwards, one can even pay bills for Airtel, ACT, Tata Power, DishTV, DoCoMo, and other utility providers. The app also has a feature to detect all unpaid bills.
Google has also partnered with Reliance Jio to launch Google Assistant for the Mukesh Ambani-led company's JioPhone, a feature phone that comes for Rs 1,500, and has features similar to a smartphone (it's a 4G LTE phone). Google Assistant would provide the JioPhone users quick information on searches through text and voice-related searches. Google said India holds the number one spot when it comes to Google Play, with over 1 billion app downloads every month. During the event, it was also revealed that over 28 per cent of search queries in India were done by voice, and that there's been over 400 per cent year on year rise in Hindi voice searches.
Recently, Google, in association with Pluralsight and Udacity, said it would offer scholarships to 130,000 developers and students across India. In this joint effort, Google is sponsoring 100,000 scholarships on the Pluralsight learning platform and 30 thousand scholarships on Udacity to help developers gain access to advanced learning curriculum and further their employability in emerging technologies such as Mobile and Web development, Machine Learning, AR/VR, Artificial Intelligence, and Cloud Platforms. This scholarship programme is in continuation of Google's plans to train two million developers in India, to help spur innovation and support the growth of India's start-up ecosystem. Since the last year and a half, Google has trained over a thousand faculty over 400 colleges and 11 state universities for the technologies of the future which has already benefited 75000 students, said William Florance, Developer Products Group and Skilling Lead for India, Google.