It seems that soon you will be able to make payment using WhatsApp as the company is planning to launch the payment service as early as next month.
According to a report by The Economics Times, WhatsApp will come up with payment services by integrating Unified Payments Interface (UPI). The report further highlights that the company is at various stages of integrating UPI-based platforms with Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.
The sources familiar with the development told the publication that the platform is already in beta testing with one of the partner banks and one can expect the feature to go live by the end of February, depending on how the trials work out. A banker has also confirmed the same, stating, the bank is doing security checks to ensure the safety of the data.
To be able to send money as easily as a text message involves ensuring various levels of Encryption to keep the data safe. UPI, by itself, also has a complicated settlement mechanism between various banking partners. These issues need to be attended to before the product goes live,”a senior banker told the publication.
You might also like this:
If this report is believed to be true then WhatsApp will surely be a great beneficiary as it has a user base of close to 200 million and it would be interesting to see whether the company will be able to turn its user base into faithful customers or not.