Google Play Store now allows payments through UPI

Google today added UPI (unified payments interface) for making payments on the Google Play Store. With this, users can directly use their bank accounts to pay for apps, games and in-app content on Android smartphones. That includes payments made for movies, books and other content that users buy on the Play Store.

UPI platforms like BHIM, Google Pay and Phone Pe will all be applicable for these payments.

According to Google, the government’s UPI payments mode has grown by over 50 times since its launch in August 2017. The company said there were over 918 million UPI transactions in August 2019 alone. Data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) shows that UPI-based digital payments clocked 754.54 million transactions in June 2019, with a total worth of ₹1.46 trillion and a rise of 2.8%.

So far, Google allowed users to pay through debit/credit cards on the platform, along with netbanking, carrier payments and more. Adding UPI makes it simpler for users to make payments directly from their bank accounts. Users will have to add their UPI ID to the Play Store in order to use this service.

Further, adding the platform could also incentivise users to make payments for apps and games. Indian users have been known to show reluctance towards paying for apps on their smartphones, and experts have often credited the same to a lack of convenient means of payments.