WhatsApp payments are now accessible to Indian users after waiting for the past two years.
Isn’t something exciting that now you can perform the transaction on your messaging app just like you make conversations with your kith and kin?
But hold for a moment; the story doesn’t end here!
Whatsapp payments have some constraints, want to know? Stay tuned with this article.
At stake is India’s mobile payments market, which is evaluated to reach $1 trillion by 2023, as per Credit Suisse.
To your knowledge, Whatsapp started its payments service early in the year of 2018 with its trial version from the past two years with a 1-million customer check.
Later on, when WhatsApp payments partnered with the National Payments Corporation of India(NPCI), a payments regulatory firm, it gave a thumbs up to take its payment service ahead.
But, the approval came with two caveats.
- Firstly, this WhatsApp payments UPI service is restricted to only 20 million UPI users with a vague provision for further expansion.
- Secondly, the NPCI will limit UPI transactions’ overall volume at 30% for any Third-Party App Provider (TPAP). It will be going to deploy from January 1, 2021.
To your surprise, NPCI has made both these announcements on the same day.
To this, Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Facebook, expressed his excitement through a video post.
“UPI payments have added lots of opportunities for SMEs that can strengthen the overall Indian economy. It’s the unusual step taken by the first country to become more digital. I appreciate and thank all our partners that make this come true. When individuals use financial tools, they feel stronger and support others to kickstart with their new business. In the long run, we need more advancements that can assist an individual control over their money, and easing out money transfer is the initial step of it.“
Whatsapp holds 400+ million users, and the total UPI users are 100 million across India. Still, WhatsApp can’t provide this service to all of its users because of the 20 million limits presently, but we have some future scope.
With this news, lots of questions might have come into your mind concerned with WhatsApp payments. No need to go for a Google search; here, we will cover all such questions that can clear everything related to WhatsApp payments and its scope.
Let’s start!
What are WhatsApp Payments?
Whatsapp Payments is the additional feature included in your updated WhatsApp that enables its users to make transactions. It’s based on the UPI service that allows you to send and receive money. And it was developed by NPCI.
Who can Use WhatsApp Payments Service?
As Whatsapp payments is a non-banking service, it has a partnership with five banks to start the service- HDFC, ICICI, Axis, SBI, and Jio Payments bank. It means that an individual who holds a bank account in any of these banks with a debit card can easily access the WhatsApp payments service.
Like Google pay, PhonePe, WhatsApp also works on UPI payment strategy. By using UPI Id, it transfers money between sender and receiver bank accounts. Whatsapp users can transfer money to anyone registered with UPI.
How WhatsApp Payments Affect the UPI Ecosystem?
India’s UPI payments ecosystem has various players consisting of payment service providers, banks, and TPAP such as Flipkart held PhonePe, Alibaba backed Paytm, Amazon Pay, Google Pay, and many others.
Whatsapp payments feature in its trial version for the last two years, and now with this initiative, it can build its image in a segment where just two players control the majority market share.
How to Start with WhatsApp Payments?
To begin with WhatsApp payments, one needs to initiate a payment to a contact. After receiving the request, Whatsapp users can create their UPI account on WhatsApp.
Here’s how to set up Whatsapp payments for your device.
- Open WhatsApp, go to Settings, then click on Payments.
- Click on Add payment method. After that, select your bank.
- Next, verify your mobile number. Click on Verify through SMS.
- Wait for the verification process to complete. After completion, your bank details get added to the payment methods.
Can We Perform Whatsapp Transactions Beyond the WhatsApp Contact List?
WhatsApp payments are effortless to perform by just clicking on the share file icon in WhatsApp and then selecting Payment. That is available on the shortcut menu; users can easily check the transaction details in that section. It works based on the UPI method, so no need to add bank account numbers and IFSC codes of recipients.
Using WhatsApp pay, you can send money to your contacts and others using UPI services.
Follow this procedure to transfer money to your contacts:
- Click on the attachment icon on your WhatsApp.
- Click on Payment >Enter the required amount> tap Enter.
- Enter your UPI pin to finish the payment.
Follow this procedure to transfer money to those who are using other UPI apps:
- Go to Settings in whatsapp> click on Payments.
- Click on new payments> Click on send to a UPI ID> Enter the UPI ID> Tap verify.
- Once the UPI ID is verified, enter the desired amount and press Enter.
- Enter your UPI pin to finish the payment.
By practicing these simple steps, you can quickly transfer or receive money from your Whatsapp messenger.
How are Payments Going to Work for WhatsApp Business API Accounts?
WhatsApp has introduced WhatsApp business API that enables the business to chat with customers directly.
After launching Whatsapp business API payment, a blog post on WhatsApp states that “since they introduced a WhatsApp business API, its users are glad to chat with the business directly on chat process, which is far better than doing calls or emails.”
Presently, using WhatsApp business API, customers can request details of their orders like shipping, dispatch date, confirmation, or boarding pass, by just clicking on the “click-to-chat” button. But, can’t receive or send the money.
Moreover, WhatsApp is sure with its WhatsApp business API payments in the future that it can bring more businesses on this platform and make an all-in-one solution for WhatsApp users.
Take Away
WhatsApp payment is a new idea that can be integrated with the messaging platform, where users can find everything on a single platform. Such as product catalog, ordering, and payment that brings a great app to the users. It helps users order anything, clothes, groceries, furniture, or any other needed item while chatting with the brand.
WhatsApp payments are a boon to WhatsApp, its user, and country. It’s one more support to India to make their dream come true of making digital India.
We hope you are now clear with the WhatsApp payments. Share your thoughts in the comment section; we are glad to discuss this with you.