Google on Wednesday launched its digital wallet in India with local integrations, nearly two years after relaunching the app as a digital wallet platform in the US
As TechCrunch exclusively reported last month, Google Wallet will operate in India alongside the existing Google Pay app, which will remain the company’s payments app in the country. Google had replaced its Pay app with Wallet in the US in February.
“Google Pay is not going anywhere. Google Pay is our primary payments use case,” said Ram Papatla, general manager and chief engineer India for Google Android, at a press conference in New Delhi. “The wallet is specifically tailored to think about non-payment use cases.”
Google Wallet will allow Android users in India to store and access their boarding passes, gift cards, event tickets and loyalty rewards cards. You can add all of these via a QR code, barcode, or link shared through Gmail, or by using a dedicated Add to Google Wallet button available in partner apps.
The app will also store transit tickets and let you create passes from any images containing a barcode or QR code, such as airline boarding passes, luggage tags or parking receipts.
Initially, Google Wallet will partner with 20 brands including PVR Inox, Flipkart, Air India, MakeMyTrip, Pine Labs and Ixigo. It has also boarded local transporters like Kochi Metro, Hyderabad Metro, VRL Travels and Abhibus. In addition, the company has partnered with systems integrators Wavelynx and Alert Enterprise to allow users to store and access their corporate badges.
Android continues to dominate the smartphone market in India, with a 93% market share, according to the latest Counterpoint data shared with TechCrunch. In 2023, of the 152 million smartphones shipped in the country, 140 million ran Android. The smartphone penetration rate for the year was 70%, up from 66% in 2021, the market research firm said.
All this gives Google a strong reason to launch Wallet in India. However, it will face competition from Samsung Wallet, which the South Korean company offers as a one-stop digital wallet and payments app. Apple also has its Wallet app for iPhone users in the country, though that app doesn’t have many local integrations. The WhatsApp instant messaging app also provides the ability to download virtual boarding passes and transit tickets from platforms like MakeMyTrip and state-run metro train operators.
