TEZ: All you needed to know about it

TEZ

Google TEZ is the latest in line of payment apps based on the system known as UPI (unified payment interface), a platform that is backed by Indian government. It has now made Google one among the various companies that are looking to make the most of the market for digital payments in the country. You will be able to use this app in order to make payments for movie tickets and utility bills, as well as making other online transactions. The word Tez means fast in Hindi and according to Google it is the speed that is supposed to be the unique selling point (USP) of this particular app.

Availability

Apart from Android, TEZ will be available on iOS as well. It is expected that some of the top smartphone brands such as Nokia, Micromax, Lava, Panasonic, and Xolo would now sell their newer phones with TEZ already loaded in them. In fact, Lava is also expected to roll out this app on its existing smartphone models as well. Arun Jaitley, Union Finance Minister of India, is hopeful that since now technology is getting better and more accessible it would increase digital payments in the country. He has informed the media that following demonetization this figure reached a peak only to experience a slight dip later on but he expects it to pick up again.

Design and partnership details

The interface of TEZ has been designed like that of a chat. Google has partnered with four leading banks of India in order to come out with the app – Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and SBI. These are the exclusive partners but UPI has 51 other banks as well and Google has said that it will partner with all of them in this regard.

Making payments simpler and safer

Caesar Sengupta, Vice President of the Google team named Next Billion Users, says that the app has been made keeping India in mind and as such it would make online payments just as convenient as their cash based counterparts. It has a number of features that would make it so easy to use. The app is quite secure as well. Google has incorporated a mode called Cash Mode whereby people would be able to make their payments without having to share their sensitive information such as phone number and bank details. This could be applicable in cases where a buyer is not comfortable with sharing such details with a merchant or a service provider. This definitely is a unique feature of this app that makes it so different from others of its ilk.

Competition that it would face

The market for digital payments in India is already quite loaded with some established players such as PayTM, PhonePe, and BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money), the official app of the central government for such transactions. Unlike PayTM this is not a digital wallet but rather employs your bank account in order to receive and send money from and to merchants and service providers.

 

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