Key Points:
i.At first, Google plans to offer FDs of Equitas Small Finance Bank (SFB) for 1 year. Ujjivan SFB and AU SFB, will also be included in future.
ii.The fintech Setu which is specialising in providing Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) has already created the beta version of the API for offering FDs.
iii.The beta version of the API offers FDs of various tenors such as 7-29 days, 30-45 days, 46-90 days, 91-180 days, 181-364 days, and 365 days, with interest rates ranging from 3.5 percent (for the shortest FD) to 6.35 percent (for the one-year FD).
iv.Criteria:
- To open FD through GPay, the users need to complete an Aadhaar-based KYC (know your customer) through a one-time password (OTP).
- The users are enabled to open FD accounts even without having an account with the bank that is offering the FD. (i.e. to open Equitas FD, the user no need to have a Savings Account in Equitas SFB).
v.Google Pay has 150 million monthly active users in India. FDs are the largest component of savings in India.
Fintechs and SFBs Partnership:
i.Nowadays, SFBs are partnering with Fintechs to offer high-interest savings accounts and FD.
ii.Recently, Equitas SFB has partnered with fintech such as NiYO and FREO (Moneytap) to offer its savings accounts with interest rates of 7 percent for balances more than Rs 1 lakh. Click here to know more
iii.As per the regulations of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), SFBs need to lend at least 75 percent of its Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANBC) to priority sectors (compared with 40 percent for scheduled commercial banks).
- At least 50 percent of SFBs portfolios must consist of loans up to Rs 25 lakh.
Google Launched Kids Safety Programme ‘Be Internet Awesome’
Google partnered with comic book publisher Amar Chitra Katha and launched a kids safety programme named ‘Be Internet Awesome’ to promote safe internet practices among children.
- The programme will be available in 8 Indian languages.
- Google plans to introduce a smartphone in partnership with Reliance Jio. The smartphone will have premium security and malware protection.
Note – India has around 622 million internet users. In the 1st half of 2021, 13.9 billion app downloads were reported and ~ 1 billion visits to the Google My Activity Page by users trying to check for possible cybercrime attacks.
Recent Related News:
Google Pay has launched International Money Transfers for its United States (US) users, it has launched the initiative in partnership with remittance firms – Wise, and Western Union Co.
About Google:
Google Pay is a digital wallet platform and online payment system developed by Google.
Headquarters – California, United States
CEO – Sundar Pichai
