WhatsApp, which has been working on its own in-app payments service for years, has finally received the necessary approval from the Indian government. With this, the company is now officially rolling out the payment feature.
The Facebook-owned messaging app has confirmed that it is rolling out the payments service in India on the latest stable version of the app on Android as well as iOS. It is offering the service in 10 regional languages.
The development comes just hours after the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) announced that it had granted approval to WhatsApp to roll out UPI-powered payments in the country.
NPCI has allowed WhatsApp to roll out its payments service to 20 million users and the company will need to work with multiple banking partners. WhatsApp has revealed that it is working with five banks — ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, and Jio Payments Bank.
For those who are unaware, WhatsApp rolled out its payments service in India in early 2018, which was limited to the beta phase with only 1 million users as the Indian government didn’t provide necessary approvals.
Earlier this year, WhatsApp rolled out its payments service in Brazil, which was quickly suspended by the Central Bank in the country. Now, India being one of the largest markets for the company, WhatsApp has a good potential to establish itself in the competitive payments space in India as the company has over 400 million users in India.
