Google Pay in collaboration with Visa and banking partners today announced the rollout of tokenisation across its platform, enabling its users to safely transact with their cards and use Tap-to-pay feature on NFC-enabled POS terminals and online merchants.
This feature is now available to all users of Axis and SBI Card, with Kotak and more banks expected to follow suit very soon.
Through tokenization, Google Pay Android users can use their debit or credit card to make payments through a secure digital token attached to their phone without having to physically share their credit or debit card details. The feature also works with online merchants, delivering more native and seamless OTP experiences without any redirects to 3D Secure sites.
With tokenization, Google Pay will enable safe and secure omnichannel experiences to help consumers use Near-field communication (NFC) capable Android devices/ phones to make contactless payments at over 2.5 million Visa merchant locations, Scan and pay at more than 1.5 million Bharat QR enabled merchants and pay bills and recharges from within their Google Pay App using their card
To enable the tap and pay feature using the smartphone phone, users will have to do a one-time set up by entering their card details and follow it by entering the OTP they get from the bank to add their card to the Google Pay app. After the registration, the feature can be used to make payments at NFC-enabled terminals.
Speaking about the roll out, Sajith Sivanandan, Business Head: Google Pay and NBU – India said, “We’re committed to offer the most secure payments experience to our growing base of users, and tokenization helps to replace sensitive data such as credit and debit card numbers with tokens, eliminating any chances of fraud. We are hopeful that the tokenisation feature will further encourage users to transact securely and safely in the current times, and expand merchant transactions both online and offline. We are already live for Axis and SBI Card holders with Visa payments network and are working closely with Kotak and other banking partners to further expand the adoption of card-based payments with tokenisation in India.”