INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
New Delhi: WhatsApp on Friday said it is rolling out its payments services in India after receiving nod from the National Payments
Corporation of India (NPCI).In 2018, the Facebook-owned company had started testing its UPI-based payments service in India, which allows
users to utilise the messaging platform to send and receive money
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) used for real-time payments between peers or at merchants' end while making purchases - allowed WhatsApp to
start its payments service in the country in a "graded" manner, starting with a maximum registered user base of 20 million in UPI."Starting
today, people across India will be able to send money through WhatsApp
This secure payments experience makes transferring money just as easy as sending a message
People can safely send money to a family member or share the cost of goods from a distance without having to exchange cash in person or
UPI, an India-first, real-time payment system that enables transactions with over 160 supported banks.In June this year, WhatsApp had
launched 'WhatsApp Pay' in Brazil - making it the first country where the service was widely rolled out.In India, WhatsApp - which counts
India as its biggest market with over 400 million users - will compete with players like Paytm, Google Pay, Walmart-owned PhonePe and Amazon
Pay."Payments (service) on WhatsApp is now available for people on the latest version of the iPhone and Android app We're excited to join
India's campaign to increase the ease and use of digital payments, which is helping expand financial inclusion in India," it said adding
with five banks in India - ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, the State Bank of India, and Jio Payments Bank - and people can send money on
WhatsApp to anyone using a UPI supported app."In the long run, we believe the combination of WhatsApp and UPI's unique architecture can help
local organisations address some of the key challenges of our time, including increasing rural participation in the digital economy and
delivering financial services to those who have never had access before," it added.WhatsApp noted that its payments service is designed with
WhatsApp, you know its secure and private too
With UPI, India has created something truly special and is opening up a world of opportunities for micro and small businesses that's the
backbone of the Indian economy," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a video message.He added that the payments service will be available
in 10 Indian language versions of WhatsApp.Interestingly, the approval for WhatsApp came on the same day as NPCI limited a single third
party like WhatsApp or its rivals like Google Pay or Walmart's PhonePe to handle only 30 per cent of overall UPI transaction volumes by
milestone and over 100 million monthly active users (MAU), and had 835 million UPI transactions in October with a market leading share of
over 40 per cent.Google had 67 million monthly active users in September last year, and on the merchant side, it had over three million
active merchant's data for June 2020
Google Pay has not shared any updated stats since September 2019.UPI processed over 2.07 billion transactions in October (worth Rs 3.86 lakh
