Originally Posted by
sonakshitravels
This limitation arises because Google Wallet's contactless payment features are not universally supported across all countries. According to Google's support documentation, the availability of certain payment features depends on the user's country or region.
For international travelers in India, it's advisable to carry physical credit or debit cards as a reliable payment method. While some merchants, particularly in larger cities, may accept contactless payments via NFC, this practice is not yet widespread.
No, this limitation arises because Google has chosen to break the interface for some reason. Apple Pay is also not supported in India, but if you have a card from a supported country you can use it just fine. Google Pay used to work here too. Perhaps it's because Google intends to add NFC to their UPI app and doesn't want the two to conflict, though UPI over NFC is a solution looking for a problem.
I haven't seen a credit card machine that doesn't take contactless in at least a year. Plenty of small shops and roadside vendors take only cash or UPI, but anywhere that will take a foreign credit card will take contactless. All Indian cards have been contactless for a while now. The challenge in places that don't see a lot of foreigners is that the clerk or waiter will assume you want to use UPI when he sees a phone.