Google brings its Wallet app to India in a digitisation push

Google launches wallet app in India. Users can now store non-payment digital items such as tickets, keys, and more.

Google launched Google Wallet in 2011 as its initial mobile payment service app. (Image: Google)

Google announced on Wednesday that it is rolling out its Wallet app for Android smartphone users in the world’s most populous country. Google Wallet can store tickets, movie tickets, rewards cards, and digital car keys, becoming a hub for everyday things that matter to users. It is essentially an app to store digital information.

“We’ve focused on just making sure the journey from paper to digital is seamless,” said Ram Papatla, GM & India Engineering Lead, Android at Google, addressing the media during an event in New Delhi. Google has on-boarded 20 partners including PVR Inox, MakeMyTrip, Air India, Shoppers Stop, and BMW to begin with. It will continue to add more partners in the future.

However, in India, Google Wallet will be used for non-payment uses. That means Google Pay, a digital wallet and payment platform from Google, will coexist alongside the Wallet app in India. “Google Pay is not going anywhere,” Papatla said. “Google Pay is our primary payment use case and it solves all payment needs in India. Wallet is specifically tailored for non-payment use cases.”

Story continues below this ad

Also read | Google clarifies its Wallet app is yet to launch in India

If you’re an Android user, you should see the brand-new Google Wallet app available for download right now. Google has no plans to launch the Wallet app on the iPhone.

Google Wallet has been around for over a decade and has gone through several changes over the years. Google originally launched Google Wallet back in 2011 as its initial mobile payment service app, allowing Android users to tap their supported phones against readers at select shops to make payments. It only worked on the Nexus phone, however.

In 2015, Google Wallet was succeeded by Android Pay as a replacement for Google Wallet. In 2018, Google announced a merger between Google Wallet and Android Pay, creating Google Pay. This service brought features from both services: contactless payments in-store and peer-to-peer payments online in a single app.

Also read | Google unveils Pixel 8a with premium AI features, price starts at Rs 52,999

Papatla made it clear that the aim behind the Wallet app is to solve the pain points users face every day, like accessing boarding passes and having them available on their smartphones. Google says that both boarding passes and movie tickets can be surfaced automatically in Google Wallet when a user purchases a ticket and receives a confirmation email via Gmail.

Story continues below this ad

Pixel devices sold in India will come preloaded with the Google Wallet app, the company said. Users will also be able to add Google Wallet as a lock screen shortcut, allowing for quick and easy access.

Google considers India an important market when it comes to search, payments, and apps. In fact, over 97% of all smartphones in India are powered by Google’s Android mobile operating system.

Google has no plans to monetise the Wallet app in India, at least for now.

Anuj Bhatia

Anuj Bhatia is a personal technology writer at indianexpress.com who has been covering smartphones, personal computers, gaming, apps, and lifestyle tech actively since 2011. He specialises in writing longer-form feature articles and explainers on trending tech topics. His unique interests encompass delving into vintage tech, retro gaming and composing in-depth narratives on the intersection of history, technology, and popular culture. He covers major international tech conferences and product launches from the world's biggest and most valuable tech brands including Apple, Google and others. At the same time, he also extensively covers indie, home-grown tech startups. Prior to joining The Indian Express in late 2016, he served as a senior tech writer at My Mobile magazine and previously held roles as a reviewer and tech writer at Gizbot. Anuj holds a postgraduate degree from Banaras Hindu University. You can find Anuj on Linkedin. Email: anuj.bhatia@indianexpress.com ... Read More

Tags:
Google