Google is introducing UPI Autopay as a payment option for subscription-based purchases on Google Play in India.
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“With the introduction of UPI Autopay on the platform, we aim to extend the convenience of UPI to subscription-based purchases,” Saurabh Agarwal, Head of Google Play Retail & Payments Activation - India, Vietnam, Australia & New Zealand said in a release today.
This will also enable local developers to grow their subscription-based businesses on Google Play, he added.
Introduced under UPI 2.0 by NPCI, UPI Autopay helps customers make recurring payments for subscriptions, using any UPI application that supports the feature.
After selecting a subscription plan for purchase, users need to simply tap on the payment method in the cart, select “Pay with UPI”, and then approve the purchase in their supported UPI app, Google said in the release.
This initiative by the tech company comes at a time when The Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed massive fines on the search giant last month, for abusing its dominant position with respect to its Play Store policies.
The regulator criticised Google’s Play Store policies which require the App developers to exclusively and mandatorily use Google Play’s Billing System (GPBS) for receiving payments for Apps distributed on the Play Store and also for in-app purchases made by users on those Apps.
The CCI ordered Google to allow app developers to provide users with third-party billing/ payment processing services, either for in-app purchases or for purchasing apps.
Google should also not take any adverse measures against such apps using third party payment services, CCI ordered.
