Uber strengthens ties with Alipay and Paytm

Uber has taken a big step towards globalising its customer base by getting closer to Alipay and Paytm for international payments.

In a statement Uber confirmed Alipay members will be able to pay for their Uber ride directly from their account while overseas.

This is a significant upgrade to Uber's current deal with Alipay for rides outside China, where Alipay users needed to register a dual currency credit card and were billed in US dollars. The new tie-up is open to all Alipay account holders and payments are made in renminbi.

And significantly, Uber is now embedded into Alipay, meaning Alipay account holders will be able to book an Uber ride from the Alipay home screen without having to open the Uber app.

The "frictionless in-app integration at a global scale" will work across more than 400 cities in 68 countries.

Uber is also strengthening its relationship with India's Paytm, a digital wallet provider in which Alipay's parent company Ant Financial holds a stake.

Uber's move is being seen as the latest battle in its war with Rides Everywhere, the global ride-share alliance comprising Lyft in the US, Didi in China, Ola in India and Grab across south-east Asia.

Related reading from Tnooz: Ride-sharing tipped to be a $6.5 billion sector by 2020 (April 2016) Uber and Lyft continue to overshadow taxis and rentals in business travel (April 2016) Uber’s growth comes with staggering losses  (Jan 2016) Anti-Uber global alliance gets bigger as Ola and GrabTaxi join in (Dec 2015) Taxi app consolidation reaches Latin America (Dec 2015)