As the social media giant looks to compete with entrenched fintech rivals, India has removed restrictions on WhatsApp's payments service in a significant victory for Meta in its largest consumer market.
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which oversees the popular instant payment rail called UPI, said on Tuesday that WhatsApp has now rolled out WhatsApp Pay for all users in the market. WhatsApp has more than 500 million users in India.
The decision came up 100 million previous users on WhatsApp Pay. The move signals a shift in the regulator's cautious approach to WhatsApp's payment ambitions.
NPCI, which reports to the Reserve Bank of India, has called for a gradual rollout of the service, initially limiting it to 40 million users by 2022 before expanding to 100 million by 2022.
WhatsApp's expansion comes as India's UPI platform, which processes more than 13 billion monthly transactions, wrestles with market concentration concerns. Google Pay and Walmart-backed PhonePe currently control over 85% of UPI transactions.
Tuesday NPCI The proposal to implement the 30% cap was pushed back again. on each app's share of transactions in the UPI network. NPCI said the rule will not come into effect for 2 years now – till 31 December 2026.
“We're committed to making payments simple, reliable and secure on WhatsApp,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement sent to TechCrunch via the app.
“Our goal is to pay bills; It is to add value and convenience to users' lives through various use cases such as ticket booking and shopping. We aim to accelerate digital payments and UPI adoption and continue to contribute to India's digital and financial integration agenda.”