WhatsApp gets nod for UPI-based payments service

Mumbai: Widely popular messaging app WhatsApp has got a go ahead from National Payments Corporation of India for starting a Unified Payments Interface-based payments service. For that, WhatsApp will tie-up with multiple banks so as to make customers able to make digital payments.

A P Hota, managing director and CEO, NPCI confirmed that Whatsapp has received a nod from the apex payment institution, according to The Times of India. Earlier, reports had indicated that WhatsApp will jump into India's digital payments market that has seen a phenomenal rise over past few years.

WhatsApp was bought by social networking giant Facebook for a whopping $20 billion in October 2014 to cash in on messaging app's vast network of users in the world. Of late, it has been in talks with a number of banks and a nod for multi-bank partnership will put its ambitions for a UPI-based payments on fast-track.

"Some of the banks WhatsApp is in talks are Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Punjab National Bank among others," the TOI report said. It added that in the past NPCI has not gives its approval to a mobile app for starting a digital payments platform.

"Players like WhatsApp, Google are very large in size and thus partnering with multiple banks makes sense to ensure smooth payments process. Google is now waiting the Reserve Bank of India's approval to go live on UPI," TOI quoted Hota as saying.