By Udita Shukla
Google India has announced its entry into the crowded Indian digital payment landscape through an app named Tez. India has seen a slew of digitisation initiatives and disruptions in many spheres of trade, business and consumer activities. Google’s newest product in the e-payment space demonstrates the prolific ecosystem India offers to such commercial ventures.
Google’s ‘Make in India’ app
Google already has a considerable market share through its existing platform, Google Play. According to a report in The Ken (a business media outlet), the new app will incorporate payment options that will go beyond such products. Tez will be rolled out under the umbrella of the Make in India initiative. The software stalwart has already doled out invitations for its upcoming media event scheduled to be on September 18, New Delhi. As per the official invite, the launch event will be addressed by Caesar Sengupta, the Vice President of Next Billion Users at Google. Ever since, the business corridors have been abuzz with speculations of WhatsApps recent venture into a UPI-based payment platform to be the primary trigger behind Googles move. Additionally, online messaging services like Hike Messenger and WeChat already run their own payment interfaces. Paytm, M-pesa, etc. are one of the many small and big players monopolising the digital payment market today. Google s app is estimated to come integrated with other third-party payment options like Paytm and MobiKwik.
Evidently, to break and capture a market which is already accustomed to long-standing credible interfaces will surely prove to be a daunting task. But Google already has the advantage of brand loyalty and consumer trust that it has gained over the years. The web is pockmarked with cyber bugs laying in ambush to steal sensitive monetary and bank passwords and other details. Consequently, to successfully implement a market venture Google would have to see to the above along with an easy, hassle-free transaction experience for the customers. Beyond the market dynamics, lies the deep abyss of dwindling integrity and confidentiality of consumer data. It is worth noting that Google is quintessentially a data company. It has gained a competitive edge by manoeuvring this information to shape its products and connect with the people and forge the most stringent buyer-seller relationship.Time and again, it has been embroiled in a controversy of privacy infringement and using its wide access to user accounts as a means to leverage commercial gains and miscellaneous personal choices.
Google’s privacy issues
In May 2014, the Court of the European Union (ECJ) ruled that people had the right to ask search engines like Google and Microsofts Bing to phase out irrelevant information from being registered under peoples names to be later employed by the tech giants to expedite their product customisation strategies. Since then, over 720,000 removal requests have flooded Google out of which about forty-three percent have seen approvals, as per its transparency report.
These inhibitions and fears are deeply embedded in the blurry realms of cyber ethics and data privacy. A lack of consolidated legal framework and steering guidelines further reinforces the confusion around. In the wake of the raging debate centred around the wrongful use of user data via Aadhar and various other digital service platforms, it has become all the more imperative for the government to legislate, enact and implement laws and regulations which seal the customer against data vulnerabilities and potential data theft. With the market so loaded with digital wallet players, a serious step in this direction now needs to be taken.
Featured image source: Pexels