Digital wallet platform Google Pay on Wednesday said that it has expanded its network of bank partners offering cards tokenisation on the Google Pay app. The app has added lenders including SBI, IndusInd Bank, Federal Bank, and HSBC India.
In a statement, the online payment system said, “After successfully rolling out tokenisation with Kotak Mahindra Bank, SBI Cards, and Axis Bank, Google Pay has now added debit cards by SBI, IndusInd Bank, and Federal Bank and credit cards by IndusInd Bank and HSBC India to its slate.”
It further said that with tokenisation, Google Pay will enable safe and secure omnichannel experiences to help consumers use near-field communication (NFC) capable devices/phones to make contactless payments at over 2.5 million visa merchant locations, scan and pay at more than 1.5 million Bharat QR-enabled merchants, and pay bills and recharges from within their Google Pay app using their credit card.
“We’re committed to offering the most secure payments experience to our growing base of users, and tokenisation helps to replace sensitive data such as credit and debit card numbers with tokens, eliminating any chances of fraud. We are hopeful that the tokenisation feature will further encourage users to transact securely and safely in the current times and expand merchant transactions both online and offline,” Sajith Sivanandan, Business Head at Google Pay and NBU – APAC, was quoted as saying in a PTI report.
He further added that the addition of SBI and Federal debit cards, IndusInd Bank debit and credit cards, and HSBC credit cards helps extend this offering to millions of card users on the Visa network. “We are working closely with other banking partners to further expand the adoption of card-based payments with tokenisation in India,” he said.
As per Visa India and South Asia Group Country Manager TR Ramachandran, with tokenised, contactless forms of payment, millions of mobile first users will be able to use their credit and debit cards on Google Pay, bolstering confidence in a large segment that is new to digital. Note that Visa has already issued over two billion token credentials globally and with Google Pay live in India, these numbers are expected to grow significantly, he added.
What is tokenisation?
For the uninitiated, tokenisation is a feature that enables users to make debit or credit card payments through a secure digital token attached to their phone without having to physically share their credit or debit card details. The feature also works with online merchants, delivering more native and seamless OTP experiences without redirecting users to 3D Secure sites.
Google Pay facilitates the assignment of a “virtual account number,” also called a token, that securely links the actual card number to a virtual card on the user’s Google Pay-enabled device. A token is unique to the card number it represents. The app user’s mobile device keeps an encryption key in memory that it uses to decrypt limited-use and single-use keys (also called cryptograms) for contactless transactions (NFC payments).
