Google Pay is pushing further into financial services in India with a new UPI-linked digital credit card.
The updates span payments, credit and merchant services on a platform that now serves more than 530 million users and 23 million merchants in the country.
The product, called Flex, is a UPI-powered, RuPay-based, co-branded digital credit card that allows users to apply for and receive a card digitally, manage repayments and earn rewards within the Google Pay app.
Users can convert eligible purchases into three- or six-month EMIs and compare repayment plans before confirming.
The card has launched first with Axis Bank as the Google Pay Flex Axis Bank Credit Card and is being rolled out in phases, with users required to join a waitlist. Google Pay said it plans to add more issuing bank partners.
Google Pay has also introduced Pocket Money, a feature that gives children supervised access to digital payments.
Built on the UPI Circle framework, it allows parents to set a monthly spending limit of up to Rs.15,000 or approve individual transactions.
Parents receive instant notifications, can track all activity and can pause access at any time.
For small businesses, Google Pay has added new tools aimed at improving visibility and customer engagement.
Merchants can now receive customer ratings immediately after a transaction, with those reviews linked to their Google Maps listings.
The company has also launched a GenAI-powered advertising feature within the Google Pay for Business app that instantly generates ad content, allowing merchants to preview and launch campaigns within minutes.
On security, Google Pay said it prevented Rs.13,000 crore in attempted fraud over the past year and displayed more than 41 million warnings for suspected scams since October 2024.
Recent updates include alerts for Android 11 and above that warn users if Google Pay is opened during screen-sharing calls with unknown contacts, offering a one-tap option to terminate the call.
Google Pay has also expanded the use of an agentic AI chatbot to handle fraud reports, which it said has increased scam detection rates by 21 percent.
Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by EyeEm via Freepik
