WhatsApp’s UPI-based payment service, WhatsApp Pay, is all set to launch in India soon. The company is all set to roll out its service in the country in a phased manner.
The company has secured a licence from National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for its payment service. “The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has granted WhatsApp permission to operate its digital payment service in a phased manner,” a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) executive told Business Standard. The report further highlights that in the first phase, WhatsApp will roll out is payment solutions to 10 million of users in the country.
The report said once the pending compliance points are completed, the Messaging platform will be able to do a full rollout. With this, WhatsApp Pay is all set to give a direct competition to the likes of Google Pay, PhonePe, Amazon Pay and Paytm. WhatsApp currently has over 400 million users.
In the past, the company faced some hurdles for its upcoming service as the Indian government raised a couple of objections. The government has asked for RBI’s views on whether payment solutions controlled remotely violate rules or not. The report says that the Indian government had conveyed this message to the messaging App earlier this month when a WhatsApp executive met officials from the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY).
Meanwhile, the company revealed it will take legal action against those businesses who are engaged in automated or bulk messaging to the users. The company will sue individual or businesses who are abusing the instant messaging platform with bulk messages. The company has revealed that sending bulk messages is a violation of its Terms and Conditions.