Every time I pull out my phone to pay at a store, the cashiers assume I'll pay via UPI. While the payments infrastructure has plenty going for it, I prefer credit cards, so I use Google Pay's Tap to Pay feature. Google rolled out the feature in India all the way back in 2020, but it was limited to just two banks, and it predictably didn't gain much traction.
But Google built out the feature over the last five years, and Tap to Pay works with most major debit and credit cards issued in India. I used it with my HDFC Infinia along with Axis and ICICI cards, and it works without any issues. The best part is that because all point-of-sale machines in retail stores have UPI availability, they get NFC by default, so you can use Tap to Pay to pay with your phone at just about any retail location in India.
