Google Pay, which is one of the biggest online payment service providers in India, has said that it would float a range of credit-focused products for consumers and merchants in India by joining hands with banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs).
During Google's annual Google for India event in New Delhi, the company said it will offer sachet loans for merchants and consumers in India, which can be availed on the Gpay app. The tech giant has partnered with DMI Finance to provide the loan services.
Sachet loans are small-ticket loans ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1 lakh, with repayment tenures between 7 days and 12 months.
Last year, Google had launched a partnership programme with small businesses-focused lending platform Indifi to source new lending opportunities from merchants.
Google Pay also enabled a credit line for merchants in partnership with ePayLater helping solve the working capital requirements of merchants. These start as low as Rs 15,000 and can be repaid with EMIs starting from Rs 111. The tech giant has partnered with DMI Finance to provide the loan services.
On the consumer side, Google Pay is expanding its personal loans portfolio with Axis Bank and enabling credit lines from banks on UPI in collaboration with ICICI Bank. These offerings prioritize data privacy, security, consent, and control.
“By digitising credit with privacy safeguards, the platform intends to expand the reach of formal credit, catering to a broader audience with lower incomes," the tech major said.
Earlier, Google Pay and DMI Finance were offering personal loans.
Besides this, Google India also announced other measures for small businesses in India. The tech giant said that with the help of AI, "Google Merchant Center Next will automatically populate a merchant's product feed with information detected from their website".
Besides, the Google Merchant Center Next will allow merchants full control over what gets added to their feed.
It also launched an initiative called ‘DigiKavach’ in India, with the aim being to prevent financial frauds in the country.
As per Google, DigiKavach is an early threat detection and warning system; it is designed to identify and study emerging financial fraud patterns before these cause ‘widespread harm.’
Under this, its teams will first study the methods and modus operandi of scammers, and follow it up by drawing insights to detect the threats early.
Finally, the teams will collaborate with collaborate with a ‘wider ecosystem’ to cross-share insights effectively.
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