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Fintech firm Google Pay is planning to scale its co-branded credit card category in partnership with multiple issuers, starting with Axis Bank on the RuPay network.
The company launched its Google Pay Axis Bank Flex credit card on Wednesday. The card, operated on the National Payments Corporation of India’s (NPCI) RuPay network, will allow users to link the card with the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
What is Google Pay’s plan for co-branded card partnerships?
Apart from Axis Bank, the company plans to add more credit card issuers in the future to serve multiple markets.
“We're starting with one bank, which is Axis (Bank), but we are adding issuers as we go along. The reason is that different ones will serve different markets,” Sharath Bulusu, senior director, product management, Google Pay, told Business Standard.
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He added that the company planned to partner with banks with a view to access coverage to their user base.
How big is Google Pay’s UPI business in India?
Google Pay is the second-largest UPI third-party application, processing over 7.16 billion transactions per month with a value of Rs 9.54 trillion, as per the latest NPCI data.
“We choose the partners so that we get that coverage over time across all of our user base. The end goal is to build a complete ecosystem for every kind of need the user has and for every kind of user. As long as the user is deserving of credit, we should be able to get them back,” Bulusu said.
How does this compare with other UPI apps’ credit card launches?
The launch of the Flex co-branded card comes at a time when multiple UPI apps have rolled out their versions of credit cards.
PhonePe launched co-branded credit cards with SBI Card and HDFC Bank this year. Cred rolled out an IndusInd co-branded credit card, while fintech super.money has co-branded credit card partnerships with Axis Bank, Utkarsh Small Finance Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank. Credit-on-UPI fintech Kiwi has a co-branded partnership with AU Small Finance Bank and Yes Bank.
What did Google Pay say about RuPay acceptance and distribution strategy?
“The acceptance of RuPay on the one side, along with the usage of RuPay (cards), both are growing… The answer is not to rush in and distribute or push the users. The answer is, when the user needs it, make it super simple for them to be able to pull,” Bulusu said.
What did Google Pay say about its user and merchant base, and fraud prevention?
He said 530 million users have transacted using Google Pay to date, and more than 20 million merchants were taken on board with Google Pay for Business.
Moreover, on the payments fraud front, he said the app had prevented potential fraud worth Rs 13,000 crore in one year.
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