Facebook-owned WhatsApp, which is betting heavily on India, is set to launch its payments feature in India by the end of May. WhatsApp Payments has partner with three private sector banks — Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank — for the same.
However, the government-own State Bank of India, which was initially in the process of integrating with WhatsApp, is not ready to take this service live in the first phase. According to a report in Money Check . The report, citing a spokesperson of the bank, said that this could be due to the delay in obtaining operational permissions from the central bank (RBI).
A WhatsApp spokesperson said it is constantly working with the government to provide all its users with access to payments. Payments on WhatsApp is expect to significantly accelerate digital transactions in India, especially in the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.
Earlier this year, WhatsApp received regulatory approval from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to operate WhatsApp Pay in India.
Major splash in the digital economy
WhatsApp Pay was beta test in India in 2018, and it Paraguay WhatsApp Number List garner 1 million users. But the government introduced privacy-related regulations soon after, preventing it from becoming operational for all users.
The beta version was launched in February 2018 and offered P2P features when users linked their accounts to a bank account. And it continue to comply with the RBI’s data localisation regulations before the October 15, 2018 deadline by providing domestic data storage.
In compliance with regulations
WhatsApp’s plans to roll out its payment service were indeed delayed, but it is now ready to take off without wasting too much time.
The social messaging app has over 400 million users in India and over 2 billion users globally. With this many subscribers to the app, India is currently the largest market for the app.
It comes as no surprise that the upcoming WhatsApp WhatsApp Number Database Pay service is expect to create a major splash in terms of digital transactions. WhastApp Pay aims to take over the already establish digital payment gateways in the country, primarily Google Pay and Paytm.
WhatsApp is well prepare for this contest
It seems. Its parent Facebook has bought a 9.9% stake in Reliance Jio for Rs 43,574 crore. The partnership between Facebook and Jio is unprecedent in many ways. Jio Platforms Bulk Database has an estimate user base of over 380 million across the country.
WhatsApp Pay is expect to follow in the footsteps of WeChat Pay in China. Which is leveraging the popularity of its parent platform. WeChat Pay is a leading player in the Chinese mobile payments market. With 800 million monthly active users (MAUs), and its success is largely due to being part of the WeChat ecosystem. Which has over 1 billion MAUs.
