After two years of experimentation, WhatsApp payment service on Thursday, 5 November, received approval from National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to travel and endure Unified Payment Interface (UPI) within the multi-bank model.
WhatsApp can expand its UPI user base during a graded manner commencing with a maximum listed user base of 20 million in UPI, NPCI said.
The Facebook-owned private messaging service has about 400 million users alone in India.
The move arrives after NPCI in August had notified the Federal Reserve Bank of India that WhatsApp had met data localisation provisions.
Brazil became the initial country to roll out WhatsApp payment service in June.
In India, the WhatsApp payment service will compete in a rat race against other major players like Google Pay and PhonePe, among others.
