Google Wallet to launch in India soon along with Google Pay

According to reports, Google Wallet may soon be launched in India with support for local integration. The search giant recently launched the Google Wallet app on the Play Store, with screenshots showing support for Indian banks, airlines and other services that offer loyalty points. The app is currently not available for Indian users to download through the Google Play Store, but users can sideload the app and add a bank card for contactless payments. According to reports, the app will work with Google Pay to serve users in the country.

TechCrunch spot this Checklist A screenshot of the Google Wallet app on the Play Store shows native integration with SBI, Air India and PVR Inox. After the publication contacted the company, Google replaced the images with US-specific ones, but a cached version of the Play Store listing showed four India-specific screenshots.

While Google did not confirm that the wallet app will be launched in India, it told the publication that it will continue to invest in “the Google Pay app to give people easy and secure access to digital payments.” This suggests that the Google Wallet app may co-exist with the UPI-based Google Pay app in India, where it competes with apps like Paytm, PhonePe, BHIM and Amazon Pay.

Gadgets 360 was able to confirm that the Google Wallet app cannot be downloaded through the Play Store, but it works when sideloading the latest APK on an Android smartphone. Currently, you can only add a credit or debit card to the app, which can be used to make contactless payments, while the loyalty points system teased via the Play Store listing appears to have been disabled.

The current Google Pay app offers more powerful features to users as it supports contactless payments (on NFC-enabled smartphones) as well as Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments. The company may eventually launch the Google Wallet app in India, but it remains to be seen whether the payments and wallet apps will be merged, a decision Google has already made in other countries.