Google Tez Launch: Flipkart's PhonePe Says Its Service Leads Among UPI Apps

PhonePe, a financial tech company owned by e-commerce giant Flipkart, said on Monday that it remains the market leader among UPI-powered apps, gaining a significant ground in the past month. The announcement comes on the heels on Google launching its own UPI-based digital payments app in India - Tez.

The company said its service accounted for 45 percent of all transactions on the UPI platform. According to figures released by RBI, the central banking institution of India, UPI apps saw 16.6 million transactions between them in the month of August.

PhonePe added that it has been swiftly growing its market dominance in the country. In June, its service accounted for 36 percent of all transactions, while in July, that market share had touched 39 percent with 11.6 million transaction just through its service.

The announcement from PhonePe comes on the heels of Google entering India's booming digital payments industry. The company on Monday unveiled Tez, its first payments app for the country, and incentive programmes to quickly gain ground in the country's payment space.

Google also announced that it has partnered with five smartphone makers including the largest Indian phone maker Micromax to preload the Tez app on their upcoming smartphones. Executives of the company further noted that they were open to other smartphone makers for more of such partnerships.

PhonePe's CEO Sameer Nigam said his service has surpassed everybody else. "As per the latest data released by NPCI, the total volume of UPI transactions in August, 2017 was 16.6 million. We drove 45 percent of all UPI transactions in August and have seen a phenomenal 66 percent growth in volume of transactions over July," he said in a press statement.

UPI is an open platform and any payments service, provided they meet some criteria, could introduce it to their app. PhonePe competes with BHIM, a UPI-powered app which the central government itself endorses, as well as several UPI-based bank apps such as Pocket, ICICI's iMobile, and HDFC Bank's MobileBanking apps.