Google readies its UPI payment system before Whatsapp

Google India might beat Facebook to launch its own Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in the country. 

AP Hota, MD and CEO, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said that Google has finished testing its UPI system and is currently waiting for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to give its nod for the services to begin. 

Earlier this year, The Ken reported that Facebook's Whatsapp was in the process of developing its own UPI payment system scheduled to be launched later this year. In May, the website said that Whatapp is likely to launch its service in the next six months. 

The Ken said, "WhatsApp first admitted to being interested in launching payments in February, when its co-founder Brian Acton visited India. Interesting, his visit was exactly a year after Facebook shut down its controversial zero-rating programme, Free Basics, in India."

Bloomberg quoted Hota as saying that the regulator targets 250 crore digital payments transactions in 2018. 

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank), merging several banking features, seamless fund routing & merchant payments into one hood. It also caters to the “Peer to Peer” collect request which can be scheduled and paid as per requirement and convenience.