Tie-ups like Equitas-Google Pay can significantly disrupt payments sector

With Covid-19 putting the brakes on bank lending, fintech players have begun to give banks serious competition

The Indian financial sector went into a tizzy last week when Equitas Small Finance Bank announced that its fixed deposit offerings can be availed of by users of Google Pay. Many wondered if the tech giants — Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, WalMart and Amazon — with their strong entry into the Indian payments sector, are ready to are ready to make their next move and offer other financial products.

Google Pay in a blogpost, however, refuted claims that the search giant was trying to encroach into banking territory.

Sajith Sivanandan, business head, payments and NBU, Google APAC, said in the blogpost: