In India, Google Play now accepts UPI Autopay for subscription-based payments

Google announced on November 15 that it is introducing UPI Autopay as a payment option for subscription-based purchases on its app marketplace Google Play in India.

The action was taken in response to the Reserve Bank of India's 2021 recurring payment guidelines, which at first caused subscription-based payments for online services to become unworkable and led to UPI Autopay to emerge as a significant alternative.

According to Saurabh Agarwal, Head of Google Play Retail & Payments Activation - India, Vietnam, Australia, and New Zealand, "with the introduction of UPI Autopay on the platform, we aim to extend the convenience of UPI to subscription-based purchases, helping many more people access helpful and delightful services-while enabling local developers to grow their subscription-based businesses on Google Play."

The National Payments Corporation of India introduced UPI Autopay as part of UPI 2.0, which enables users to set up recurring payments through any UPI application that supports the capability. The NPCI created the UPI instant payment system.

According to Google, customers can tap on the payment method in the shopping cart, select "Pay with UPI," and authorise the transaction in their preferred app.

Google officials have previously stated that UPI was one of the major factors contributing to a rise in customer spending on Google Play in the nation.

Without providing specific figures, Aditya Swamy, Director, Play Partnerships, Google India, told Moneycontrol in August 2022 that consumer spending on Indian applications and games increased by 80% in 2021 compared to 2019 on Google Play.

According to Swamy at the time, integrating UPI into Google Play's payment processes was a significant area of investment for the business.

According to Agarwal in a blog post, "We are always looking at introducing popular and effective means of payment around the world to guarantee customers can pay for apps and in-app content quickly." He also noted that Google Play supports consumer transactions in more than 170 regions.

In more than 60 countries, he added, "We have been focusing on removing complexity associated with locating and integrating local payments, providing access to over 300 local payment options."

These changes occur at a time when India's anti-trust watchdog, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), has delivered Google two consecutive setbacks that could significantly affect how the internet company conducts business.

The commission issued antitrust orders against two of the company's divisions, Google Play Billing and Android, requiring the company to take a number of corrective actions in addition to paying a combined provisional fine of Rs 2,274 crore.

Google stated that it was assessing the following move for both orders.