Mobile chat platform
WhatsApp could be set to roll out
Peer-to-Peer Payments in India, which is home to its largest market with over 200 million users (via
TechCrunch).
According to India-based media company The Ken,
WhatsApp plans to use a cross-bank payment system called UPI, which is backed by the government, to enable
Payments between users
Within the next six months.
WhatsApp has neither confirmed **r denied the claim, but there are precedents for the messaging service to move into mobile payments. During a visit to the country in February,
WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton met with India's IT minister and said the company was "in the early stages" of exploring how it might incorporate payment systems into the platform.
Last week, Swedish-based phone number lookup service Trucaller introduced user-to-user
Payments in
India via a tie-in with ICICI Bank, which makes use of the same UPI system
WhatsApp is said to be integrating.
Facebook has had a
Payments system in its Messenger app for some time in the U.S., but
WhatsApp is far more popular in
India and is already being used there as an e-commerce portal despite **t yet offering any features that explicitly support the practice.
Samsung launched Samsung Pay in
India for select Samsung Galaxy ****** devices last month, after it partnered up with Axis, HDFC, ICIC, SBI and Standard Chartered banks, and embraced the UPI standard. Apple
spoke with the Indian government about introducing
Apple Pay back in 2015, while talks with several banks in the country about incorporating the system are said to be ongoing.
Tags:
WhatsApp,
India
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