Google could soon allow Indian users to open fixed deposits via its UPI payment service Google Pay. This comes as a result of Google’s recent partnership with Indian fintech startup Setu.
Google Pay is one of the most popular digital payments services in India and the addition of the new feature will allow users to open Fixed deposits from within the app eliminating the need to visit the Banks.
As per a report by Mashable, Google Pay will initially allow users FDs of Equitas Small Finance Bank for up to one year.
Other banks including Ujjivan Small Finance Bank and AU Small Finance Bank are also expected to join the list soon. The maximum interest rate is reportedly set at 6.35 percent. Interested users would need to sign up following an Aadhaar-based KYC (know your customer) process, enabled through a one-time password (OTP).
Fintech startup Setu is an application programming interface (API) start-up which offers APIs to clients across bill payments, savings, credit, and payments. The company is already said to have created a testing version on the platform that offers various tenors for FDs as per the report.
These include time periods ranging from 7-29 days, 30-45 days, 46-90 days, 91-180 days, 181-364 days, and 365 days. As far as interest rates are concerned, they scale from 3.5 percent for the shortest FD to 6.35 percent for the annual FD.
It is important to note that Google India has not confirmed this yet and there is no launch date, so we will have to wait a while longer to know more.
