WhatsApp to introduce UPI payments soon

Digital money users in India have one more reason to rejoice. The UPI feature has been included in the Beta version of WhatsApp, though it is hidden. UPI, as we know is the payment system launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). The official version is still under development, but it seems from this update that they will introduce the feature soon. With WhatsApp having over 200 million users in India, this is likely to be very popular. 

The website wabetainfo.com hared an update which has the following screenshot followed by the message below. 

“WhatsApp Payments: the immediate bank to bank transfer with UPI”, reports the official WhatsApp Payments section for Android, that’s still hidden and under development.

As mentioned in the screenshot, in order to use WhatsApp Payments, you will have to accept the WhatsApp Payments and Bank Terms and Privacy Policy.”

One is expecting that once the feature is launched, one can transfer money to another person or from one bank to another through WhatsApp. WhatsApp will have to tie up with banks to make this possible for which the NPCI granted permission last month. Since this will be on UPI, the payments will be instantaneous. One would be able to make payments to other WhatsApp contacts on their phone.

Chat app Hike had launched UPI payments in January 2017, the first messenger service to do so in India. Apart from transferring funds to each other, Hike had also introduced ‘Blue Packets’ or envelopes that contain digital money and can be sent to friends on occasions such as birthdays. Chinese messaging app WeChat introduced an in-house payment feature last year which is very popular in China.

News reports suggest that Paytm, the most popular mobile wallet in India, is planning to launch a messenger feature soon. The feature would allow Paytm users to chat with each other and share media amongst themselves, just like in WhatsApp.

With these exciting developments in the digital payments space, users will have more options to make payments and transfer funds in going ahead. And we cannot wait to see the developments!

anaghpal@outlookindia.com