As per a recent report, the Facebook-owned app, Whatsapp Messenger has managed to get a nod from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for the launch of WhatsApp Pay in India. It will be finally rolled out in a phased manner according to a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) executive.
Crux of the Matter
The Beginning of Whatsapp Pay US-based social media giant WhatsApp, with a user base of over 400 million, had launched “payments through WhatsApp” feature to a million users back in February 2018. This was a part of the trial run which was partnered with ICICI Bank. However back then the company had failed to get permission from various regulators for a wider rollout.
What it will offer? WhatsApp will initially offer UPI payment services to 10 million users in the country. Once the company receives a nod for all other agreement points, it will be able to roll out the service to all users. The users can then send money directly through chat by tapping on the share file icon in the chat bar and selecting ‘payment’.
Statistics of Online Payments According to a report by Razorpay, digital transactions are estimated to have grown by 338 percent from 2018 to 2019. Interestingly, the usage of cards declined to 46 percent in 2019 from 56 percent in 2018, and net banking to 11 percent from 23 percent in 2018. Among UPI, Google Pay contributed 59 percent, PhonePe contributed 26 percent, followed by Paytm (7 percent) and BHIM (6 percent) in digital transactions in 2019. Amazon Pay was the most preferred wallet among consumers (33 percent), followed by Ola Money (17 percent) in 2019.
💰WhatsApp Payments screenshots for the setup — thanks @nagenderraos pic.twitter.com/oqPiIMWnra — WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) February 8, 2018
Curiopedia
WhatsApp Messenger is a freeware, cross-platform messaging and Voice over IP (VoIP) service owned by Facebook, Inc. It allows users to send text messages and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other media. WhatsApp’s client application runs on mobile devices but is also accessible from desktop computers, as long as the user’s mobile device remains connected to the Internet while they use the desktop app. The service requires users to provide a standard cellular mobile number for registering with the service. In January 2018, WhatsApp released a standalone business app targeted at small business owners, called WhatsApp Business, to allow companies to communicate with customers who use the standard WhatsApp client. The client application was created by WhatsApp Inc. of Mountain View, California, which was acquired by Facebook in February 2014 for approximately US$ 19.3 billion. More Info
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