Google Pay said that it will expand SoundPod to merchants in the country. The GPay SoundPod was introduced last year. Recently RBI has decided to ban Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL). In such a situation, amidst the crisis of Paytm, Google has taken this decision. Let us know in detail in this report.
Fintech company Google Pay recently announced that it has now announced the expansion of SoundPod for merchants in the country. SoundPod will reach most merchants in the coming few months.
The company introduced SoundPods in India last year on a limited pilot scale. Like Paytm’s Soundbox, the Google Pay (GPay) SoundPod is a speaker device. In this too, audio notification service of the transaction is provided and tells the merchant how much money has been paid through QR code.
Google Pay vice president of product Ambrish Lange said in a blog post that
Last year, we introduced our SoundPod product in a limited pilot. It is an audio device that helps merchants track QR code payments with audio alerts when payment is received. Merchant has shared positive feedback regarding this. Soundbox reduces checkout time. We are pleased to announce that SoundPods will be available to small merchants across India in the coming months.
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He further adds that this is in addition to the list of consumer and merchant offerings we have announced in October 2023 to expand the availability of responsible credit in India.
Let us tell you that after PhonePe, GPay is the second largest UPI app in the country. It facilitated 444.28 crore transactions worth Rs 6,35,945.58 crore in January 2024.
However, PPBL lagged behind GPay in terms of both volume and value of transactions in January 2024.
RBI took action on Paytm Payments Bank
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) ordered Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL) to stop accepting any money for transactions after March 15.
RBI has clarified in the list of FAQs that Paytm QR Code, Paytm Soundbox or Paytm POS terminals will continue to function after March 15 only if they are linked to banks other than PPBL.
Paytm said that merchant payment subscription has reached 1.06 crore in the December 2023 quarter. This is an increase of Rs 49 lakh on a year-on-year basis.
Paytm is working to fix an issue with merchant transactions with virtual payment address settings.
