Users of GooglePay's payment wallet in India will now be able to open a time deposit account thanks to a partnership between GooglePay and Equitas Small Finance Bank Ltd.
The process (opening a Time deposit account) only takes two minutes, a first in the industry the lender revealed in a statement. Rates will be as high as 6.35% for a one-year deposit, the bank said.
This will improve "financial inclusion by encouraging a savings culture, at the same time making the fixed deposit booking process simple and easy," said Murali Vaidyanathan, country head at Equitas SFB, in a statement.
The move can be seen as a response to the latest trends amongst technology firms - including Facebook, Amazon, and Xiaomi corp - that are slowly moving into the financial services space in the region. An explanation for this latest trend amongst tech firms can be seen in the country's thriving and crowded digital banking industry with more than 300 online lending startups.
