Two pioneers of digital wallets in India, FreeCharge and Paytm have some exciting news for their users. Android users will not be able to recharge their Google Play Store accounts with coupon codes from FreeCharge and Paytm.
Both the mobile apps and the desktop apps will allow you to purchase recharge codes for your Play Store account, allowing you to buy music, games, paid apps and other offerings on Google’s Play Store. Paytm’s blog post read, “We have recently launched a one-click recharge for Google Play. This will help Android users across India to recharge their Google Play accounts in minutes.”
At the moment, you can bill your purchases on Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, buy fixed price gift cards on Play Store or buy physical gift cards as well. However, through Paytm and FreeCharge you will be able to recharge your account with value of your choice.
Both the companies promise that the experience of recharging Google Play Store account will be as easy as recharging your prepaid mobile connection. All you have to decide the amount you want to fill in your account and redeem the code you receive.
Steps to recharge your Play Store account
Before you proceed to recharge your store account, ensure that you have the latest version of the app.
Recharging through Paytm and FreeCharge –
- Locate the ‘Google Play’ icon on the app’s home page and tap it
- Enter the amount you want to add and proceed to pay
- Upon payment, you will receive a Google Play recharge code on your registered mobile number through SMS
- Open the Google Play Store app on your smartphone, go to the redeem page on the settings tab on the left
- Enter the alphanumeric recharge code you received
- Confirm
the account you wish to recharge and money will be instantly added to it
You can recharge between Rs. 100 and Rs. 1500 at a single go on Paytm and FreeCharge both, a range set by Google itself. You do not need to go through the hassle of adding a credit card and billing all the expenses to it.
Presently, it is not mentioned explicitly whether the reversal of purchases made through this payment type will be refunded to the mobile wallet, or as a gift card in Play Store itself, since Google’s refund policy only refunds via a gift card.
Now the mobile wallets are also in the race with the major telcos to allow their customers to make purchases on Google Play, it is interesting to note that Android Play Store already has a lot of apps that are free. Even when apps are paid, users can find ways to download them from other sources that end up making them free.
The only category that can generate decent revenues will be Games and Personal Health apps, that charge for extra facilities within the app itself. However, it is a great news for app developers, who have more incentives to launch paid apps for the Indian market.
Source: Paytm
