Facebook and Google chase a new US$1tril payments market

The digital payment service PhonePe, operated by Flipkart Online Services Pvt., is demonstrated during an arranged photograph in Bengaluru, India, on Sunday, Aug. 19, 2018. A bewildering array of digital payment businesses from global names like Facebook Inc.'s WhatsApp to Paytm, backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., are in a slugfest to win Indian users. Also in the fray are the country's banks, its postal service, and its richest man, Mukesh Ambani. Photographer: Samyukta Lakshmi/Bloomberg

Surendrasingh Sucharia always has a few thousand rupees in his pocket, but can’t recall the last time he used cash. 

The 29-year-old product manager in Bangalore uses a string of smartphone apps including Google’s Tez and India’s Paytm to pay for everything from US$40 (RM164) bags of groceries to street food that costs pennies.