Google to roll out SoundPod audio devices to small merchants in India amid Paytm crisis

Google's SoundPod rollout comes after it conducted an year-long limited pilot

Google announced on February 22 that it is rolling out SoundPods, a speaker device that helps merchants track QR code payments with audio alerts, to millions of small merchants across India in the coming months.

This announcement comes at a time when rival Paytm is facing an existential crisis after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) restricted Paytm Payments Bank from offering almost all major banking services in the country from March 15, 2024.

Last week, Paytm announced a partnership with Axis Bank for the settlement of merchant payments. Paytm parent One97 Communications has also shifted its nodal account from Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL) to Axis Bank through an escrow account.

Read: What the RBI FAQs mean for Paytm and its users: Said and Unsaid

Paytm is also in discussions with several other banks, including Yes Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Canara Bank, Moneycontrol reported earlier this week.

At the same time, Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma also tried reassuring consumers and merchants that the company's QR code and soundbox will continue to work after March 15.

However, it's worth noting that only those QR codes and soundboxes that are linked to a bank account other than PPBL will continue beyond March 15.

Year-long merchant pilots

Google said this rollout comes after conducting a limited pilot of its SoundPod device last year, Participating merchants have shared positive feedback, saying that it reduces checkout time, it noted.

With this launch, Google will be the latest company to launch such a speaker device after rivals Paytm, PhonePe and BharatPe that have launched similar devices in the past. Paytm was the first to take a shot at solving this problem by launching its Soundbox in 2020, during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Read: Paytm vs PhonePe: Merchant sound device may be at heart of feud

In recent years, these devices have become a meaningful alternative revenue stream for fintech companies, while also helping with merchant retention.

Google said that merchants can make use of the audio notification service by signing up for a subscription through the Google Pay for Business app. One can choose either a daily or a yearly plan and then turn on the daily settlement option to access this service.

In the daily plan, merchants will have to pay a one-time fee of Rs 499, after which Rs 5 per day will be deducted for 25 days in a month from their settlement account. In the yearly plan, Rs 1,499 rupees will be deducted from the merchant's settlement account. One can

Merchants will be able to access the audio alerts service in six Indian languages including Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi, and Gujarati, besides English.

In a bid to incentivise the usage of its own QR codes, Google said that merchants who are availing audio notification services can get a guaranteed cashback of Rs 125 after they accept 400 or more transactions in a month through GPay QR codes.

In October, Google had announced a range of credit-focused products for consumers and merchants, partnering with banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) to fortify its financial services offerings in India.

Google Pay shutdown in the United States

Meanwhile, Google said it is winding down the standalone Google Pay app in the United States, less than two years after launching Google Wallet, a digital wallet that gives users quick access to payment cards, loyalty cards, passes, tickets, keys, or IDs among others.

The app will stop working from June 4, 2024 in the United States. People can access popular features such as tapping to pay in stores and managing payment methods in Google Wallet itself, which the company claims is used five times more than the Google Pay app in the United States.

Google is also shutting down its peer-to-peer payments service that lets users send, request, or receive money from others in the United States.

The company however noted that this decision doesn't have any impact on the Google Pay app in India and Singapore, as it continues to build for the "unique needs" in those countries.

"We’ve invested in making payments as fast and seamless as possible — like improving Google Pay autofill in Chrome, making it easy to pay for public transit and expanding the types of passes you can store in Wallet. And looking ahead, we’ll continue improving payment experiences like these," Google said in a blogpost.