Google Pay adds Gemini-powered finance assistant and expands Flex card programme with SBI Card

Google Pay India is launching opt-in Ask Google Pay in 10 Indian languages for financial education and spend analysis, while adding SBI Card to its Flex co-branded credit-card programme across RuPay and Visa.

— Source publishedWed, 29 Jul, 2026, 15:15 IST·First seen Fri, 31 Jul, 2026, 11:32 IST·Source Hindustan Times · Business

What happened

Google Pay India is launching opt-in Gemini-powered Ask Google Pay for personalised financial education and spend analysis, while adding SBI Card to its Flex

Key facts

  • Ask Google Pay launches in 10 Indian languages
  • Google Pay Flex SBI Card annual fee: ₹500
  • 1 reward star per cumulative ₹500 spend; each star redeems for ₹1
  • 50% first-year discount on Google AI Plus plans
  • Google AI Plus 400GB annual price: ₹4,000
  • Google AI Plus 2TB annual price: ₹6,500
  • Google Pay held 32.8% of UPI transaction volume at end-June
  • PhonePe and Google Pay together process nearly 79% of UPI transactions
  • NPCI single-app UPI market-share cap: 30%

Why this matters

Banks, card issuers and retail-finance partners should view Google Pay as an increasingly strategic distribution layer, with SBI Card’s addition signalling room for further co-branded credit and merchant-partnership deals.

What to watch

  • SBI Card Flex launch terms, approval rates, credit limits, annual fees and reward structure.
  • Number of banks joining Flex and whether major issuers offer competing wallet-native cards.
  • Ask Google Pay adoption, repeat usage, language mix and opt-in rates for transaction analysis.
  • Evidence that assistant engagement lifts card applications, activation, spend frequency or merchant-offer redemption.
  • RBI guidance or enforcement affecting AI-generated financial guidance, consented transaction-data use or UPI-linked credit cards.
  • Competitor responses from PhonePe, Paytm, CRED, banks and UPI apps around AI budgeting or co-branded cards.
  • Add more Flex issuer partners, card variants and pre-approved offer journeys targeted from UPI behaviour.
  • Tie Ask Google Pay insights to merchant offers, bill reminders, credit-card activation and reward optimisation.
  • Expand financial-assistant prompts into budgeting, fraud education, recurring-payment management and credit-health guidance.
  • Increase disclosures, consent controls, data-retention explanations and human-support escalation to protect trust.
  • Use RuPay availability to position Flex for UPI-linked credit-card usage and everyday low-ticket spending.