Meta-owned WhatsApp will soon expand its payments service to 100 million users. The Messaging platform has received National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) nod for extending the UPI service to an additional 60 Mn users.
After this move, now 100 Mn WhatsApp will now be able to use UPI payments on the platform. WhatsApp has been seeking removal of a cap on the number of users it can roll out the service to from a long time.
WhatsApp Payments
NPCI has been gradually reducing the cap on WhatsApp over the years. It gave its nod to the social media platform to launch its payments service in the year 2020. In November 2021, WhatsApp was allowed by NPCI to expand its registered user base to 40 million in UPI from 20 million users. And now, WhatsApp can expand its payment service to 100 million users from the existing 40 million.
In a statement, NPCI said,” National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has approved an additional sixty (60) million users on UPI for WhatsApp. With this approval, WhatsApp will be able to expand the service to its hundred (100) million users.”
WhatsApp had sought permission for UPI payments for all its users in India. However, it granted permission only for 100 million users. Though the relaxation will come as a relief for WhatsApp, but still the platform has more than 500 million users in India.
Meanwhile, WhatsApp is now working on a dedicated communities tab inside its app. Moreover, it has now made it easier to text those people on WhatsApp whose number isn’t saved in your phonebook.
Previously, WhatsApp announced new tools for Voice Notes. There is Out of Chat Playback where one can listen to a voice message outside of the chat. Next, there’s waveform visualisation of the voice note. It shows a visual representation of the sound on the voice message to help follow the recording.