Google Tez wallet and payments app launched; here's what you can do with it

Google on Monday finally launched in India its UPI-backed payments application, Tez (fast in Hindi), which will allow you to securely pay for goods and services both online and offline, and also make person-to-person transactions.

“Send money to friends, instantly receive payments directly to your bank account and pay the nearby café with Tez, Google's new digital payment app for India,” the description of the Tez app reads on Google’s Play Store.

The internet search giant had been working with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to build the app in accordance with its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) standard. Tez is similar to NPCI’s own BHIM app, currently the most used UPI payments app in India.

Google is said to be working with multiple Indian banks for Tez and will allow users to transfer money to any UPI-enabled bank account. Like BHIM, users will also be able to transfer money to other users by saving their account numbers and IFSC codes.

Going forward, Google says, Tez will also allow you to pay bills on its platform through credit and debit cards.

“Tez works with all major Indian banks and with a vast majority of smartphones, so you can pay or get paid by almost anyone. Tez offers language support for English, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu,” the app’s Play Store description added.