Google Pay in talks with lenders to launch credit feature for SMEs: Report

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Google Pay is planning to expand its services and gain market share in India by rolling out a credit feature for small and medium enterprises (SME). The feature is expected to roll out by the year-end.

For the rollout, Google is said to partner with top Indian lenders, aiming at providing instant credit to over 3 million verified lenders, reported The Economic Times (ET).

Similar to the instant consumer loan feature, the credit will be provided to merchants on a pre-approved basis. Partner lenders will be responsible for the underwriting and collection of the credit, the report further added.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

It is currently unknown which partner lenders will be a part of this Google Pay scheme. For the consumer loan feature, Google has partnered with HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Federal Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Ambarish Kenghe, the senior director for product management - Google Pay, said, “We’re working with our partner financial institutions to surface their loan offerings for merchants, which can be availed right within Google Pay, something that is especially pertinent in these uncertain times.”

Kenghe further added that the discussions were still in the early stages. However, he expects the feature to go live by year-end. “The loan product will be offered by the financial institutions and the emphasis is to ensure that the merchant has full control and visibility of the loan application process,” he said.

Google Pay recently rolled out the ‘Nearby’ Spot feature recently, which enables small businesses to create a digital storefront online through the app interface. It has seen large merchants such as Zomato, Grofers, MakeMyTrip, 5 Paisa and Dunzo come on stream. The UPI-based service platform now aims at bringing smaller merchants onboard.

The competition in this space has intensified, especially after Facebook’s investment in Jio Platforms, which will facilitate the social media giant to integrate WhatsApp Pay with JioMart.

Amazon, too, is working on bringing offline merchants online.