Google's Android Pay is moving closer to its launch in India, pending approval by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), as more U.S.-based companies including Uber and Amazon work to add technology supporting India’s central bank-approved unified payments interface (UPI) to their portals.
India saw a surge of growth in mobile payments following the government's demonetization moves last fall, and the RBI has been actively encouraging
Google recently finished the UPI testing for Android Pay, and the service is expected to launch within two or three months, when the RBI completes security checks, according to the
Several other U.S. firms including Uber and Amazon are working with Indian banks to integrate their payments services through a UPI pay button through Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM), a QR code-based mobile app enabling electronic payments directly through banks, the report suggests.
Facebook also is in discussions with the RBI about rolling out its UPI technology to support payments within its Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp messaging services, reportedly aiming to work with some of the 50 Indian banks supporting UPI.
Stripe also is discussions with several Indian banks to launch international remittances in India using blockchain technology, according to the same report, as competition heats up between Indian banks looking to expand digital payments in the region.
