We all know Android Pay as Google's mobile payments app, but to date, it still only supports 14 countries. In India, however, the landscape is a little different, leading Google to develop Tez, an India-exclusive app that will allow users to make payments, split bills, and more.

Tez was rumored to be launched on September 18th (which is today). It's advertised as a way to send money, split food bills, or pay local businesses seamlessly through your phone. Unlike some other "mobile wallets," it draws money directly from your bank account, eliminating the need to refill the app. It's a part of India's payment standard, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), meaning that it works with all 55 major banks in the program. Google is also partnering with redBus and PVR Cinemas at launch, as well as Domino's, dishtv, Jet Airways, and more in the coming weeks to allow users to pay through the companies' apps or websites. As long as they're UPI-compliant, Tez will work.

Features of Tez include "Tez Shield," an always-on guard that prevents hacking and fraud with a 24/7 live chat/call team; "Cash Mode," which enables you to pay nearby Tez users without having to share bank info or phone numbers via Audio QR technology; and "Tez Scratch Cards," which you can earn and win up to ₹1,000 per week through. Tez uses your contact list to organize transactions in a chat-like manner, allowing you to better keep track of payments. Plus, on "Lucky Sundays," you'll be able to win up to 1 lakh ( ₹100,000). Money transfers are limited to ₹1,00,000 (yes, it's actually written like that) per day through UPI apps and 20 transfers per day.

Tez is currently exclusive to India, but more Asian countries like Indonesia and the Philippines should follow if the trademarks that Google's recently registered can be trusted. Language support is great, with English, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu all there.

And if you're a business owner who would like to integrate Tez into your company, you can visit Tez for Business here. Participants will be able to accept secure UPI payments, get their own Business Channel, and send out reminders to customers for recurring charges or personalized offers.

The app is live now on the Google Play Store and iOS's App Store. If you can't see it on the Play Store and would like to have a look of your own for whatever reason, you can grab it from APK Mirror. Tez will come preloaded on upcoming phones from Lava, Micromax, Nokia, and Panasonic.

Source: Tez, Google India Blog

Via: TechCrunch