The Canadian Parvasi - Issue 13

The International News Weekly MONEY/REAL ESTATE
18
September 22, 2017 | Toronto
Over 4 lakh Indians adopt Google
‘Tez’ for payment in just 24 hours
Agencies
NEW DELHI: Within 24
hours of Google digital
payment app ‘Tez’ being
launched in India, Google
has seen nearly 1.8 crore
gross merchandise volume
(GMV) done with over four
lakh active users. “In the
past 24 hours, 1.8 Crore
GMV done on Tez already
with 410,000 active users,”
a Google spokesperson told
IANS on Tuesday.
Gross merchandise
value or GMV is the total
value of merchandise sold
over a given period of time.
Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley launched the app in
the Capital, saying the idea
of “Tez” was discussed by
Google’s Indian-born CEO
Pichai in January, just after
demonetisation.
“Google saw a great potential
in Indian economy
and businesses,” Jaitley
said, adding that Google’s
new digital payments app
over the next few months
was likely to make major
advances in digital transaction
volumes.
Replying to this, Pichai
on Tuesday tweeted: “We
hope that the launch of @
TezByGoogle will help take
India one step closer to
your vision of @_DigitalIndia”.
Built on the Indian government-supported
Unified
Payments Interface (UPI),
Tez allows users, free of
charge, to make small or
big payments straight from
their bank accounts.
The app was built for
India, working on the vast
majority of the country’s
smartphones and is available
in English and seven
Indian languages (Hindi,
Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada,
Marathi, Tamil and
Telugu). The app works
in partnership with four
Banks -- Axis Bank, HDFC
Bank, ICICI Bank and State
Bank of India -- to facilitate
the processing of payments
across over 50 UPI-enabled
banks.
According to D.D.
Mishra, Research Director,
Gartner, Tez provides
promising features which
are in-line with the requirements.
“It is too early to say
whether it can be a game
changer as evolution in
this business is going to
continue, but yes it has the
capabilities to bring some
disruption as of now,”
Mishra said in a statement.
Moreover, Google’s
information about an individual’s
preferences can
play a good role in enabling
business to know their
preferences and provide
offers with interesting options.
“The mobile wallet industry
too, is evolving and
we are at an interesting
stage in this competition.
Eventually, UPI payments
will have an upper hand if
it continues to remain free
and provide better security,
convenience and add
more Value Added Services,”
Mishra informed.
Google also announced
“Tez for Business” which
offers businesses new ways
to unlock the potential of
digital payments and engage
their customers.
India becomes fastest growing market for Brand USA
By Christine Nayagam
The Indian outbound traveller
is now a much-coveted
commodity around
the world, as the country’s
booming middle class
seeks new destinations and
emerges as a key market.
The Indian market has
set a new record as 1.17
million tourists visited the
US last year, according to
Brand USA, the nation’s
first public-private partnership
to promote the United
States as a travel destination.
“Brand USA has
reached the million visitor
mark from India, we
expect much more growth.
This year has seen our largest
delegation of our Brand
USA India mission with
nearly 40 organisations, we
actually had a waiting list
of people wanting to tap the
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indian market. And that really
shows the importance
that India has,” Suzana
Shepard, Manager Global
Trade Development Brand
USA, said during a branding
event organized by
Brand USA representative
Sartha Global Marketing in
New Delhi.
In February, Brand
USA inaugurated the US-India
travel and tourism partnership
year in Delhi, led by
the US Department of Commerce’s
National Travel
and Tourism Office (NTTO).
The NTTO had forecast a 72
per cent increase in arrivals
from 2015 through 2021.
While business travelers
and family visits have
been the norm so far, more
Indians travel to less visited
states and try new activities
involving adventure and
thrills.
“Indians are big consumers
of adventure activities
and this is exactly what
we got in Nevada for them.
The US is very much a road
trip destination and there
is so much to see, different
landscapes, just like in India
I guess but with a different
decor, different people
and a great melting pot of
cultures,” said Claudia Vecchio,
Director of the Department
of Tourism & Cultural
Affairs in Nevada.
According to Brand
USA, India ranks 11th in
international visitors and
also represents the sixth
biggest spender with $13.6
billion registered last year.
“There is really a great
opportunity, only one per
cent of the population has
a passport and there is a
growing middle class. It
leaves room for a lot development,”
Shepard said.
The increasing number
of direct flights from India
by national carrier Air India
has also helped in catering
to the tourists’ demand,
the latest being Delhi-Washington
DC. A couple of years
ago, Air India also added
San Francisco to its other
non-stop flights to New
York, Chicago and Newark.
The carrier is said to be
evaluating a direct flight to
Los Angeles as well.
“With the non-stop service
from India, San Francisco
Airport has seen the
traffic back and forth to India
grow by 10 per cent, said
Melissa Andretta, Director
of International Marketing
at San Francisco International
Airport.
“The United States has
always been a prime destination
for Indian tourists,
the country being home to
an important Indian diaspora.
We are seeing a lot
of FITs coming, a lot of Indian
weddings celebrated
in Washington DC where
an important Indian origin
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population lives. You can
even celebrate Indian festivals
like Diwali just like
you would do in India as the
city organises special decorations
and festivities,” said
Yi Lu, International Sales
Manager at Destination DC.
On the recent visa restrictions
on Indian travellers
to the USA, Shepard
said that they had no impact
on the tourism to India and
that Indians are warmly
welcomed by many Americans.
(Christine Nayagam can
be reached at c.nayagam@
mediaindia.eu)
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