NPCI approves WhatsApp Pay request to double payments user base

On Tuesday, the National Payments Commission of India, or NPCI, allowed WhatsApp Pay to expand its payments user base, raising its existing limit by a factor of two.

WhatsApp Pay on the Rise

WhatsApp rolled out its payments feature, WhatsApp Pay, on 7th February 2021 in India. Essentially, WhatsApp users can simply send money to their contacts within the chat. The messaging app allows registered users to first link their bank accounts with WhatsApp Pay. Then, the users get a new UPI with the extension wa.rdg@wasbi; the sbi can be hdfc, icici, or axis, since SBI, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Axis Bank are its PSPs.

The National Payments Commission of India has increased the payments service's user base to 40 million. Earlier, it could only register 20 million users at most.

After NPCI approved its request to increase the user base, WhatsApp India Director of Payments Manesh Mahatme said, "since our initial approval from NPCI, we have been working to deliver a simple, reliable, and secure experience for WhatsApp users that we hope will accelerate the adoption of UPI for the 'next five hundred million' Indian".

Notably, WhatsApp Pay has been planning to invest in India over the next six months to accelerate the growth. Mahatme added that the app will work towards a full-fledged rollout. "Over the next 6 months, we have planned significant investments in payments on WhatsApp - across India - including many more "India-first" features - that we are sure will accelerate our growth", he said.