WhatsApp goes ‘live’ with UPI payment facility in India; now send, receive money while messaging

You can now use your favourite messaging app –WhatsApp — to send or receive money across India. WhatsApp claimed that the secure payments experience is as easy as sending a message. While the UPI market is dominated by Apps such as PhonePe and Google Pay, WhatsApp has entered the UPI market with its over 500 crore users. WhatsApp is supporting transactions from over 160 banks and has partnered with five leading banks in India — ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, the State Bank of India, and Jio Payments Bank. To make payments through WhatsApp, all you need is a bank account and a debit card in India. 

WhatsApp said that it has joined India’s campaign to increase the ease and use of digital payments, which is helping expand financial inclusion in India. It added that in the long run, the combination of WhatsApp and UPI can help local organizations address some of the key challenges, including increasing rural participation in the digital economy and delivering financial services to those who have never had access before.

The messaging giant assured that the payments system is designed with a strong set of security and privacy principles, including entering a personal UPI PIN for each payment. WhatsApp has announced that the payment facility is now available on the latest version of the iPhone and Android app.

Meanwhile, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) yesterday allowed WhatsApp to go ‘live’ with the payment model in a ‘graded manner. NPCI added that WhatsApp can expand its UPI userbase in a graded manner starting with a maximum registered user base of twenty million in UPI. The decision to allow Whatsapp to go live with the UPI facility has come soon after NPCI issued a cap of 30 percent of the total volume of transactions processed in UPI, applicable to all third-party app providers (TPAPs) from 1 January 2021.