Google Pay to add support for contactless UPI payments over NFC

Google Pay is one of the most widely used digital payments systems in the country, which uses the Unified Payments Interface to allow direct bank-to-bank transfers. The app is now adding support for making UPI transactions over NFC, according to a new report.

This isn’t the first time that Google Pay is announcing an NFC powered payment feature in the country — Google Pay already supports making payments via tokenised cards over NFC, just like the service works in countries where there is no UPI system. However, since that feature only works on cards issued by a very small list of banks, Google seems to have decided to put the NFC chip on your smartphone to good use.

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Users who currently use Google Pay in the country have to either manually key in the “UPI ID” of the recipient or scan a QR code instead. However, both of those methods take time, while shops with poor lighting could pose a challenge for devices with subpar cameras. Google is now working on a more intuitive solution for users in the form of UPI over NFC, as spotted by Android Police.

According to a support document, the company should be rolling out the feature to devices that have an NFC chip built-in, which should make it a bit easier to make payments. This is because instead of waiting around like the person before you who fumbled with their camera and the QR code, you will able to simply tap your phone on the payment terminal and watch the app popup with the payment screen ready for your UPI PIN input.

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There are a few things about the feature to keep in mind, though. For starters, only Pine Labs terminals are supported at the moment, plus you’ll need a phone with an NFC chip. Google also says customers who want to use their device for UPI over NFC will have to make sure they haven’t modified their devices, by means of root or custom ROMs – the service with not run on these devices for “security” purposes, according to the company.