If you've used Uber in India, and then tried to use it in the US, you would have run into a small problem - your payment wallet doesn't work, which could leave you stranded. In the US, Uber takes your credit card information which is used to pay for rides. In India too, the company started off that way, but later switched to a wallet based system powered by Paytm, because of RBI regulations.
The catch here was that if you're an Indian Uber user, your Paytm wallet doesn't work outside the country, meaning you can't pay your fare. This looks set to change soon, according to Paytm and Uber.
On Tuesday, Uber announced a partnership with Alipay, enabling the wallet in China. This partnership is a two way street, and Uber users from China will be able to use the Alipay wallet to pay their fares when travelling in the rest of the world.
Alipay backed Paytm is also working on implementing the same feature, and Indian users will be able to use the wallet to make payments around the world. The payments will be made in rupees, converted on current rates and without any additional fees, which means it's going to be pretty easy for a Paytm user to keep track of their spending, instead of registering a credit card and trying to keep track of dollars and rupees. The implementation will be done by the end of the month, according to Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma.
Disclosure: Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma's One97 is an investor in Gadgets 360.
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