Google Pay Tests Tokenised Cards In India, Users Can Pay Using NFC Without Pin

To provide the users with a hassle-free experience on its payments platform, Google Play is testing a Near-field Communication (NFC) based contactless card payment option in India. The tech giant’s NFC payment feature will eliminate the need to enter the UPI pin and will allow users an option to add their card numbers for direct payment.

In order to add their credit cards or debit cards as an NFC-payment option, Google users should: Go to Settings > Payment Methods > Add Card. Users should then provide the card number, expiry date, CVV, and the card holder’s name and billing address. Upon pressing save, they will get an OTP for confirmation. Currently, the option to pay using the NFC card method hasn’t been rolled out to all users.

“Only Axis Visa cards and SBI Visa credit cards can be added to your payment methods. International cards aren’t supported by Google Pay at this time,” according to a Google support page.

According to the support page, Google Pay users can pay by their cards on the following — Tap & Pay at NFC enabled payment terminals, Bharat QR code-based Payments at online & offline merchants, Mobile Recharge payments on Google Pay, Online Payments on the Myntra app. To pay directly or to send or receive money with others, G-Pay users will still need a bank account that acts as the default payment method.

Regarding the security of the saved cards, Google uses a process called tokenisation to save users’ cards. Tokenisation hides sensitive payment card information (Card Number, Expiry Date, CVV, etc.) from merchants and provides them with a device-specific ‘Token’, lowering the risk of fraud. 

Google had unveiled the tokenised cards technology last year during the ‘Google for India’ event in Delhi.