Google Wallet is now officially available in India and is rolling out today as the default experience for boarding passes, loyalty cards, event tickets, public transit passes, and more.
Officially announced in a blog post, this comes after the rebrand of Google Pay in lots of global regions. However, it seems that Google Pay is going to remain as the default wireless payment method in India, while Google Wallet is set to be a one-stop shop for non-payment cards and passes.
Google notes that “Google Pay app remains your destination for all things payments” while Google Wallet is set to be a supplementary option in India. You are unable to use Google Wallet to make payments in India. It’s not clear if this affects those traveling to those traveling to the region who already use Wallet to make wireless payments, but we expect this to continue working for those with accounts registered outside the country.
Partnerships have also been struck with “over 20 of India’s top brands” to streamline the process of adding passes, tickets, and more to the application. Thanks to Gmail integration, you can auto-populate Google Wallet with existing cards, passes, tickets, loyalty cards, and more seamlessly too. You can also scan QR codes within the application or the “Add to Wallet” button to populate the application with your most needed content.
There was no mention of integration with Google Pay, which you will still be required to use to make NFC and UPI payments in India. This could cause confusion with both apps living on your device. To get started you can download Google Wallet from the Google Play Store.
More on Google Wallet:
- Google Wallet adds new ‘Payment methods’ list on Android
- Google Wallet replacing Fitbit Pay in July
- Google Pay transaction screen adds ‘Open Wallet’ shortcut
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