WhatsApp Finally Begins Rolling Out Payment Service In India

Since the advent of mobiles and mobile communication, a number of companies took to developing mobile apps for different platforms such as iOS, Android, and even Windows. Apps that came along from these companies fell into one of the following categories:

1. Games
2. Social Media
3. Shopping
4. E-Book Readers
5. Education

The list is endless. One category that deserves mention here and that became prominent in the last 5-10 years has been the Payments category. You can buy Games, Shop for your favorite clothing, watches, and whatnot, and even pay for your education in one of the two ways  by cash or by card (debit or credit). This is where the payment gateway comes in. Just by selecting a few options, the entire purchase can be completed in a matter of a few minutes. Today there are a number of gateways, which are familiar to all of us such as Google Pay, Phone Pay, Bhim UPI, PayTM, etc.he latest entrant to this category is WhatsApp Pay.

WhatsApp Pay  Another Payment Gateway

Having been in the backyard for a number of years, WhatsApp Pay is already emerging as a tough completion for the existing apps such as Google Pay. With the user base of WhatsApp quite widely spread, and WhatsApp having an easy to use UI, the users definitely will find no problem switching from other payment gateways to WhatsApp Pay. In India alone, the WhatsApp user base is 400 million, and WhatsApp Pay has already started to service 20 million of them. In due course of time, WhatsApp plans to extend this service to all the users of WhatsApp throughout the World. Since the release of the latest version of WhatsApp, users have already started to enquire about the Payment feature of WhatsApp.

Prerequisites for Payment through WhatsApp

Before one starts to pay or receive money through WhatsApp Payment gateway, it is necessary that the users fulfill the following prerequisites:

1. An Indian Bank Account
2. A Debit Card
3. An iPhone or Android Mobile

Users should also note that these bank accounts must be with one of the Indian banks that WhatsApp is working with. These banks are ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, and Jio Payments Bank. The transfer of money between a sender and a receiver takes place with the help of a UPI (Unified Payments Interface).PI helps transfer the money between the two bank accounts in real-time using a mobile. The facility of Payment through WhatsApp is currently available only on iOS or Android enabled devices. WhatsApp plans to extend this facility in a phased manner to other devices to cover a greater user base.

General Information for the Users

Besides the above-mentioned prerequisites, the user of this service needs to know certain things about the Payment feature.

1. The feature is inbuilt in WhatsApp and as such free just like the other features available in WhatsApp.
2. WhatsApp Pay supports 10 Indian regional languages
3. The feature is available for the transaction through 5 Banks in India although WhatsApp Pay is supporting 140 Banks all over the world according to Mark Zuckerberg (CEO, Facebook)
4. The WhatsApp Payment service is secure. It verifies your mobile number while setting up the Payments feature. Also during the transactions, the UPI PIN is used to confirm your transaction.

Setting up WhatsApp Payment

Step by Step Installation of WhatsApp Payment

Having discussed almost all that you need to know, we will let you know how to set up this feature in WhatsApp. 

1. Download WhatsApp from AppStore or Play Store
2. Install WhatsApp
3. Open WhatsApp
4. Tap the & in the top right to open settings
5. Tap Payments
6. Tap Add Payments
7. Select your Bank
8. Verify your Phone by tapping the option Verify by SMS
9. Once the verification process is over, the bank details appear below the payment option.
10. You are ready to go

The Final Step- Using the Payments Option

Once the WhatsApp Payment has been set up, it is time to start making transactions through this feature. To do so users can follow the steps given below:

1. Open WhatsApp
2. Tap Attachment Icon  
3. Tap Payment
4. Input the Amount 
5. Press the Enter key
6. Enter the UPI PIN to complete the transaction

Lets Wrap It Up

All of us have been using payment gateways for quite some time now. Before 2014, in India, the use of these gateways was limited to PayPal. Today the scene is something else. Now we have PayTM, Bhim UPI, Google Pay, and the newly introduced WhatsApp Pay (and of course many more). WhatsApp has a very wide user base in India. As such, it is but natural that there will be hardly any difficulties for the promotion of WhatsApp Pay.

As of May 2020, Google Pay had a user base of 60 Million whereas WhatsApp Pay, introduced in India on Nov 5th, 2020, already has a user base of 20 million. The feature works with the most popular Indian Banks which are secure. The payment gateway is verified by an OTP and a UPI PIN lending it the utmost security. For more information, read WhatsApp’s official blog here

Happy Payments.