WhatsApp Payments has been launched in India after a long wait of two years. The Facebook-owned messaging app had first proposed the idea of introducing the payment feature in India in 2018 but it took the company two years to get a clearance from NPCI. WhatsApp has rolled out the Payments feature to take on the leading payments app in India including Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay and others.
“We’ve been working on this with the National Payments Corporation of India, who oversee everything to make sure it’s secure and reliable. And we’ve built it using India’s Unified Payments Interface, which makes it easy for anyone to instantly accept payments across different apps -- and for companies to provide people with great services,” Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg had said about the launch.
“With UPI, India has created something truly special and is opening up a world of opportunities for micro and small businesses that are the backbone of the Indian economy. India is the first country to do anything like this. I’m glad we were able to support this effort and work together to help achieve a more digital India. I want to thank all our partners who’ve made this possible” he added.
Here is what you can do to enable the feature
— If you have not received the WhatsApp Payments feature despite updating the app, you need to look for someone who has the Payments feature enabled on their phones.
— Ask the user with a payment feature to send you a “payment notification” in your chat. A payment notification can be sent by tapping on Payments in the chat sharing options
— When you receive a payment notification from the contact, WhatsApp will ask you to set up your payment account.
— Once you click on the “Set Up” option you will be able to create a payments account on WhatsApp.
WhatsApp has rolled out the feature in Brazil and India but the feature would be available in Mexico, UK, Spain and Europe in the future. In India, WhatsApp has partnered with five leading banks including ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, the State Bank of India, and Jio Payments Bank to enable UPI payments.
