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NPCI Approves WhatsApp To Increase Its User Base To 100 Million Users For UPI

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Synopsis: However with this increased database, in March people used WhatsApp for making around 2.54 million UPI transactions, which was worth Rs 239.78 crore. In the terms of volume, the complete UPI transactions accounted for about 0.05%, and in terms of value, it has been accounted for 0.025%.

Meta-owned WhatsApp has been given permission by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for adding around 60 million additional users to its payment services. They also said that the total number of users can exceed 100 million in order for offering the Unified Payment Interface or UPI-based feature. WhatsApp was given permission in November 2020, that they can go live with its UPI-based multi-bank modal and can keep the starting number up to 20 million users, but eventually it was increased to 40 million users in November 2021. 

However with this increased database, in March people used WhatsApp for making around 2.54 million UPI transactions, which was worth Rs 239.78 crore. In the terms of volume, the complete UPI transactions accounted for about 0.05%, and in terms of value, it has been accounted for 0.025%. Perhaps if we talk about the statistics, PhonePe is number one in the terms of UPI payments with around 2.5 billion transactions in March and is followed by Google Pay with 1.8 billion transactions during March. 

In this competitive ground of third-party app providers (TPAPs) space, WhatsApp is yet to make a safe place for itself. In the month of March, WhatsApp users made around 2.54 million transactions, that is 239.78 crore, which is quite less as at this point in time UPI has processed around 5.4 billion transactions amounting to Rs 9.6 trillion. Also, in India’s crowded digital marketing space WhatsApp has to compete with a large number of platforms, including Alphabet Inc’s Google Pay, Walmart’s PhonePe, SoftBank, Ant Group-backed Paytm, etc. 

In India, there is very much scope for the platforms supporting UPI transactions and Wallets as the Government is also supporting the same by initiating Digital India at every step. But 81 percent market is captured by Google Pay and PhonePe thus, it has become a bit tough for WhatsApp to create its own market as its own database of 400 million users currently lacks access to the payment option. 

WhatsApp specifically designed this payment feature for the Kirana shop owner and also confirmed that they have a strong base of 15 million users who are already present using the WhatsApp for Business app. In the year 2019, the company provided a chance to shop owners for showcasing their products by releasing a catalog system. This feature was very much liked by people and by 2020, more features were added to the same. 


Last Updated : 22 Sep, 2023
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