Facebook-owned WhatsApp announced that ‘WhatsApp Pay’ is live now for its 20 million users in India. WhatsApp Pay will allow users to make payments with State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.
The announcement came after two years of wait when WhatsApp’s payment service received the approval of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in November.
NCPI has allowed WhatsApp to go live on Unified Payment Service (UPI) with over 160 banks. However, for now, payments involving only four banks will be possible.
WhatsApp can increase the UPI user base gradually.
The payment feature is available now in 10 Indian regional language versions of WhatsApp.
WhatsApp’s payment feature will be competing with existing online payment service providers like Paytm, Google Pay, Phone Pe etc.
The payment option will now be available on tapping the “Attachment” option in the updated versions of the app.
