In a key breakthrough for digital payments in India, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has increased the user onboarding limit for WhatsApp Pay, the popular messaging platform’s payment feature.
The company has launched a payment service for all Indians following its announcement to enter the sector. However, due to regulatory restrictions, the service’s access was limited to 100 million to ensure security and performance.
According to a press release from the National Payments Corporation of India, “The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has removed the UPI user onboarding limit for WhatsApp Pay (Third Party App Provider), with immediate effect. With this development, WhatsApp Pay can now extend UPI services to its entire user base in India.”
This means that WhatsApp Pay is now available to the entire WhatsApp user base in India, which surpasses 500 million. This expansion is projected to dramatically accelerate the country’s adoption of digital payments.
Benefits for Users
With this update, WhatsApp users can now:
• Send and receive money: Users can transfer funds to fellow WhatsApp users without leaving the app.
• Request payments: Users can send payment requests to others.
• Interoperability: WhatsApp Pay supports transactions with users of other UPI payment apps like PhonePe and Google Pay.
The NPCI has also delayed the implementation of a 30% UPI market share cap for all companies for two years. This means that service providers such as GPay, PhonePe, Paytm, WhatsApp Pay, and others can maintain a maximum market share of more than 30% until at least December 2026.
