WhatsApp Payments now rolling out in India, will facilitate UPI transactions

WhatsApp has finally launched its payments platform in India. You can now use Facebook’s messaging app to send and receive money across the country.

Just like Paytm, Walmart’s own Phone Pe and Google Pay, WhatsApp Payments also use the UPI platform (Unified Payment Interface). The service is now available in the latest version of the iOS and Android app.

To send money through WhatsApp Payments, you need a bank account and debit card in India. WhatsApp sends instructions to banks to initiate the transfer of funds between accounts through UPI. So when you set up your WhatsApp Payments account you will be asked to verify your phone number and a system generated SMS will be sent from your phone to associate your UPI ID with the service.

When you’re done setting up your account, you can send money to your WhatsApp contacts or other bank account using a UPI ID.

WhatsApp is currently working with ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, State Bank of India and Jio Payments Bank to facilitate UPI payments. The messaging platform has over 400 million users in India. However, according to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), payments can only be introduced in a “tiered” manner, starting with a maximum user base of 20 million.

WhatsApp started testing its payment service in India back in 2018. With its broader rollout, the service has to compete with Google Pay and Phone Pe, which control most of UPI’s transactions in India. UPI has become the most popular digital payment system in the country, but soon NPCI will limit the number of transactions a single app can process.

No payment app is allowed to process more than 30% of the country’s total UPI transactions. This means that Google Pay, Phone Pe, Amazon Pay and now WhatsApp need to figure out how to restrict transactions on their platforms.

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