RELEASED! WhatsApp Pay now in India, but there is a 20 million user cap

Starting today, people across India will be able to send money through WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned instant messaging platform said in a blog post on Friday morning. WhatsApp claims that sending money through the platform will be as simple and secure as sending messages. The WhatsApp Pay has been designed in partnership with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) using the Unified Payment Interface (UPI), an India-first, real-time payment system that enables transactions with over 160 supported banks.  

To send money on WhatsApp in India, it’s necessary to have a bank account and debit card in India. WhatsApp sends instructions to banks, also known as payment service providers, that initiate the transfer of money via UPI between sender and receiver bank accounts.  

The platform is currently working with five leading banks in India: ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, the State Bank of India, and Jio Payments Bank. However, it is supported by more than 140 banks. People can send money on WhatsApp to anyone using a UPI supported app. 

The announcement came after NPCI gave a green signal to the app by putting a 20 million user cap. WhatsApp can expand its UPI user base in a graded manner starting with a maximum registered user base of 20 million in UPI, NPCI said.  The Facebook-owned private messaging service has over 400 million users in India. The move comes after NPCI in August had informed the Reserve Bank of India that WhatsApp had met data localisation requirements. 

“Hey everyone -- I hope you and your families are staying home and healthy. I am excited today that WhatsApp has been approved to launch payments across India. Now you can send money to your friends and family through WhatsApp as easily as sending a message. There’s no fee, and it’s supported by more than 140 banks. And because it’s WhatsApp, it’s secure and private too,” Mark Zuckerberg said in a video on Friday.  

He added that WhatsApp has been working on this with the National Payments Corporation of India, who oversee everything to make sure it’s secure and reliable.  

"And we’ve built it using India’s Unified Payments Interface, which makes it easy for anyone to instantly accept payments across different apps -- and for companies to provide people with great services,” he said.  

Payments is available now in ten Indian regional language versions of WhatsApp. All you need is a debit card with a bank that supports UPI and you can set it up straight away. You can find it in the latest version of WhatsApp.