Google Pay allows its users in the US to send money to their friends and families in India and Singapore. Google has partnered with Western Union and Wise to enable the new service via the Google Pay app.
Google Pay has chosen India and Singapore to launch the payment feature because of their importance in the remittance ecosystem. This move officially marks the tech giant’s entry into the remittance services market.
Users can choose between the two options to make transfers outside the US. Google Pay launched a new version of its app in the US last year, marking a push into banking services with the addition of checking accounts from various lenders like Citi along with rewards and budgeting insights.
Josh Woodward, director of product management at Google said in an interview that the company is kickstarting its cross-border payments feature in India and Singapore and intends to expand this worldwide by the end of the year.
“As we do with a number of Google products, we will test, learn and iterate and then start scaling,” he said.
With this move, Google Pay will be able to attract a large number of migrants in the US with the latest update. The partnership with Google will help Wise and Western Union to expand their presence in various markets and give tough competition to rivals such as PayPal, which has a wider reach.
Sending money through Google Pay from the US to India or Singapore
Image Source- Google
Google plans to expand the foreign fund transfer service via the Google Pay app to more than 200 countries and territories through Western Union and more than 80 countries through Wise, by year-end. When Google Pay users in the US will send money to people in India or Singapore, they will be informed about the exact amount the recipient will get and the time received.
This feature is only for Google Pay’s US users who send money to people in India and Singapore and not the other way around.
Josh Woodward said the company has chosen India and Singapore due to their strong presence in the payment world. India was the largest receiving country for remittances in 2019, with more than $80 billion a year, according to World Bank.
Western Union said receivers will get the exact value in local currency, as chosen by the user in the US. Wise will charge the actual foreign exchange rate and additional transfer fees, which will vary from country to country.
“The easiest way to find out how much it will cost is to find a friend on Google Pay, select Wise as a partner, tap Pay, and enter the amount to transfer,” Wise said.
“The pandemic continues to have a devastating impact on communities, customers, and colleagues in many parts of Asia, especially in India and Latin America. This convenient channel will help people to continue to support one another in these trying times, as they reimagine how they can pay and move money worldwide,” said Shelly Swanback, president, Product, and Platform at Western Union,