Google today announced a host of India-specific features as a part of its Google for India 2021 vision. Among the apps, Google Pay is receiving loads of user-friendly features to help digitise the economy. The digital payments app will soon get a ‘Hinglish’ language option – a mix of Hindi and English. The new option will sit with the existing options of Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, and Telegu. The company also hopes to make the app smarter by adding “speech to text” to let users use voice input to pay directly to another user’s bank account.
Users can voice account numbers in Hindi or English into the app to enter the account number, which is then confirmed with the sender before initiating the payment. Another key feature it announced is Bill Split, which helps users split and settle shared expenses.
The new Bill Split feature will let Google Pay users handle shared expenses with ease. Image: Google
Google Pay will further add a ‘MyShop’ feature aimed at micro-entrepreneurs and merchants. The tool will be available to merchants using Google Pay for Business app to help them “digitise” their journey ahead.
The company says the addition of the new language option is an attempt to make interactions even “more intuitive and natural via Google Pay.
As a part of the company’s Google for India 2021 vision, customers are also getting a pilot Google Assistant-enabled, end-to-end vaccine booking flow in India. The tool will aim to help users book COVID-19 vaccines with the help of Google Assistant in multiple language options. It is aimed to help eradicate the complexity and barriers in booking COVID-19 vaccines in the country.
Google also announced a bunch of climate-related features to “help surface timely and important information, and ensure people’s safety.” These include a partnership with Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) to bring accurate weather forecasts. People can now see Air Quality from their nearest station by typing queries like “Air quality near me” or “Air quality Delhi.”