Tez, Google‘s mobile payments service targeted at Indian users, has added a new feature that allows users to pay their bills using mobile devices anywhere in the country. According to Diana Layfield, Vice President of Payments & Commerce, Next Billion Users, at Google India, users will be able to add a new biller, one-time or recurrent, by just heading over to the New Payment section and selecting the “Pay your bills” option. Once that’s done, the app will show a list of supported companies across multiple locations. The new billing experience will then let users pay their bills once they enter their account number associated with a specific biller.
Additionally, there’s also an option to customize the name of that biller for easy reference later. This is especially helpful when paying a recurring bill. Since the feature is still in its maiden launch, Google says the new billing experience will support over 80 billers that consist of power distributors on national and state levels as well as other utility providers like gas and water sources across India. For bills that occur repeatedly, Tez now has the ability to retrieve the new bills and inform users about new liabilities to pay as they emerge on the app. Also, users will be able to see the history of payments categorized according to the biller by just clicking on the biller’s name on the app’s home screen. This helps users check what account charges they have already settled as well as organize bills from several companies. Supported billers include DishTV and Reliance Energy. Users already can pay their bills via several websites such as redBus, PVR Cinemas, Domino’s Pizza, and Jet Airways. Upon launch, the Tez app itself was supported by 55 banks, including Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and State Bank of India.
To further sweeten up the offering, Tez’s new feature comes with a reward in the form of a scratch card worth up to Rs. 1,000 ($15) that can be won by any users for every new biller they pay for the month of February. Google launched Tez in September last year for the Indian market. The app has since gained much traction in the country, and last December Google promised to roll out more features to the app, and the new billing feature is likely one of those promised additions.