Google Pay adds Gemini assistant in India, expands credit partnerships

Google Pay has launched Gemini-powered Ask Google Pay in 13 languages and added SBI Card as a second issuer for its Flex card, alongside personal-loan partnerships with six lenders.

— Source publishedFri, 31 Jul, 2026, 06:20 IST·First seen Fri, 31 Jul, 2026, 06:25 IST·Source Mint · Companies

What happened

Google Pay launched Gemini-powered Ask Google Pay in India, offering multilingual financial-information assistance. It is also expanding personal-loan and

Key facts

  • Ask Google Pay is available in 13 languages
  • Google Pay partners with 6 lenders for personal loans
  • SBI Card is the second issuer for the Flex credit card
  • Google Pay processed 7.4 billion UPI transactions worth ₹9.7 trillion in June
  • Google Pay held 32.8% of UPI transaction volume and 33.5% of value
  • PhonePe held 46.4% of UPI transaction volume and 49.2% of value

Why this matters

Financial-services and commerce platforms should assess partnerships with Google Pay’s expanding credit ecosystem, as its AI-assisted interface could become a valuable distribution layer for cards, loans, and merchant offers.

What to watch

  • Google Pay discloses Flex-card issuance, active-user, loan-origination or repayment metrics.
  • Additional bank, NBFC or card-issuer partnerships are announced.
  • RBI guidance or enforcement concerning AI financial assistance, digital lending, consent, credit reporting or UPI-linked credit.
  • Evidence that Ask Google Pay handles transaction disputes, fraud alerts, credit eligibility or repayment workflows rather than basic FAQs.
  • Competitor launches from PhonePe, Paytm, major banks or consumer-lending apps involving vernacular AI and embedded credit.
  • Rising consumer complaints, loan delinquencies or lender pullbacks linked to digitally sourced credit.
  • Add Gemini-led credit eligibility checks, repayment reminders, dispute handling and multilingual product explainers inside Google Pay.
  • Expand Flex-card issuer relationships beyond SBI Card and use issuer-specific offers to widen approval coverage.
  • Bundle loan and card offers with merchant-payment data, subject to explicit consent and lender underwriting rules.
  • Build agent-to-human escalation, audit trails and standardized disclosures to limit AI-advice, fraud and mis-selling risks.
  • Seek deeper integrations with banks for account aggregation, mandate management and post-disbursal servicing.