Google Pay has been quite influential in bringing some much-needed change to the mode of payment in multiple countries, especially in India, being a backbone for cashless transactions in the country via UPI based payment.
Till now, however, users of Google Pay in the U.S. were not allowed to send money to GPay users in certain other countries, but this is set to change.
It was announced by Google on Tuesday that users in the U.S. would now be able to send money to GPay users in countries like India and Singapore.
How Will The Payment Take Place?
As per Google, it has partnered with Western Union and Wise, with both companies having integrated their services into Google Pay. This is the first instance of both firms inking such a deal for cross-border payments.
In an interview with TechCrunch, Josh Woodward, the Director of Product Management at Google, stated that the company is kickstarting its cross-border payments feature in India and Singapore, with plans to expand this to a worldwide extent by the end of 2021.
According to this partnership, Western Union will power cross-border payments via Google Pay in more than 200 countries, with Wise extending support in over 80 countries.
For those of you wondering how this will work, when a user in the U.S. attempts to send money to someone in India or Singapore, they will be informed about the exact amount that will be sent to the recipient. From within the application for Google Pay, they can also choose which provider to choose, as well as how long it should take for the payment to be processed.
As of now, the remittance feature allows for sending of money from the U.S. to India and Singapore, but not vice versa. As per both companies, Singapore and India were chosen due to their overall importance in the world.
For those of you looking for the exact number, India was the largest receiving country for remittances in 2019, receiving over $80 billion over the course of the year, as per the World Bank.
This partnership is mutually beneficial, with Google getting better support and Wise and Western Union expanding their presence in several markets with a more aggressive approach against the likes of PayPal.
In terms of the payment, Western Union has stated that receivers will pay no charges, with the exact value in their local currency being provided. Wise has mentioned that it will charge the actual foreign exchange rate and transfer fees, varying from country to country.
Google itself will not levy any fees to customers, with Western Union providing an option of free transfers when sending money with Google Pay till June 16, with Wise making the first transfer free for new customers on transfers maxed at $500.
