WhatsApp Gets NPCI Approval, Can Offer UPI Services To 10 Crore Users

In November 2020, the NPCI granted WhatsApp to go live on UPI in the multi-bank model in a graded manner, allowing 2 crore users to start off with

In India, WhatsApp competes with Google Pay, SoftBank- and Ant Group-backed Paytm, and Walmart’s PhonePe in the UPI space. Image: Getty

New Delhi: Meta-owned WhatsApp has been allowed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to add 6 crore users to its payments service, according to a news report.

This move by the NPCI will allow WhatsApp to take its total number of customers it can offer the unified payment interface (UPI-based) feature to 10 crore.

In a press statement, the NPCI said, “With this approval, WhatsApp will be able to expand the service to its 10 crore users.”

In November 2020, the NPCI granted WhatsApp to go live on UPI in the multi-bank model in a graded manner, allowing 2 crore users to start off with. However, the number was later revised and increased to 4 crore in 2021.

The NPCI allowed WhatsApp to go live on UPI in a graded manner because it did not want the messaging service to run away with the UPI market.

Manesh Mahatme, director-payments for WhatsApp India, said his company would work with the NPCI to expand its users after the cap was extended to 4 crore users, according to the news report. WhatsApp has more than 48.7 crore users on its platform in the country.

The messaging app has not been able to create a place for itself in the crowded third party app providers (TPAPs) space. It processed 25.4 lakh transactions in March, amounting to Rs 239.78 crore at a time when UPI processed a record 540 crore transactions amounting to Rs 9.6 lakh crore.

In India, WhatsApp competes with Google Pay, SoftBank- and Ant Group-backed Paytm, and Walmart’s PhonePe. Online transactions, lending, and e-wallet services have been growing rapidly in India, led by a government push to make the country’s cash-loving merchants and consumers adopt digital payments.

Together PhonePe and Google Pay control nearly 81 per cent of the UPI market.