Google Pay takes on PayPal, starts cross-border transactions

Google Pay is opening up cross-border transactions for the first time. The move will mark the Alphabet company’s entrance into the remittance market.

According to TechCrunch, Google will initially open up user-to-user payments between the US, India, and Singapore. That means Google Pay users in the US will be able to transfer money to users in India and Singapore. The transaction will not work in reverse. As in, Indian or Singaporean users will not be able to make international transfers to users in the US.

Google has tied up with Western Union and Wise to facilitate these cross-border Google Pay transactions. Both of these payment platforms will be integrated into the Google Pay app.

It’s also unclear if these international transactions will be instant or if they will take a few days to process. However, users will be able to see the exact amount that recipients will receive.

Western Union confirmed in a statement to TechCrunch that receivers will pay no charges. They’ll also get the exact value in their local currency as chosen by the sender in the US.

Moreover, Western Union will offer unlimited free transfers on Google Pay till June 16.

Wise, on the other hand, will charge the actual currency exchange rate and additional transfer charges. It will make the first transfer free for new customers on payments up to $500.

Google will not levy any additional fee on its part.

Eventually, Google aims to expand cross-border transactions on Google Pay worldwide.

“As we do with a number of Google products, we will test, learn, and iterate and then start scaling,” Josh Woodward, Director of Product Management at Google told TechCrunch.