'Totally useless app': Why GPay is trending on Twitter

Twitter users are sharing screenshots comparing the old cashback scratch cards offered by GPay and the current deals on the app.

One user wrote on Twitter: “#GPay what nice trick to fooling people....they just take the advantage.”

 

Another user shared a comparison between the offers on the old system and the current GPay. While earlier, users would get cashback even in small amounts such as Rs 11 and Rs 15, they are now offered discounts on buying biryani, dry fruits or clothes and recharging their mobile phones etc.

 

Google launched its payment app in August 2017. Back then, the mobile payments service was known as Tez.  PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm, and CRED Pay together have 96.4 percent of the overall UPI market with PhonePe having the highest share at 49 percent in October, according to data from the National Payments Corporation of India (UPI).

Google Pay commands a 34 percent share of the market, while Paytm has 11 percent and CRED Pay 1.8 percent. Others like WhatsApp and Amazon Pay cover a 3.5 percent share of the market.

At present, CRED, the credit card bill payment platform, gives members a variety of offers and discounts from leading companies.

Cashless wallet and mobile payments platform Paytm offers discounts and cashback on recharge, bill payment, money transfer, and more. The Paytm bus coupon is very popular among travellers as it offers attractive cashback on bus tickets.

UPI-based payments service WhatsApp Pay, available on the Meta-owned messaging platform, offers cashback to expand its user base. The company was initially offering a cashback of Rs 11 on each of the first three payments made through the app to different contacts. It later announced a total of Rs 105 cashback for payments done using the app.

In a bid to popularise digital payments after demonetisation, the government announced its plans to incentives apps such as BHIM and the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) — the interface for utility payments -- to attract users in 2017. These incentives included cash back and reward points.