WhatsApp Pay to launch in India this year

Will Cathcart, Whatsapp’s global head recently revealed that the company had been testing their own payment portal in India for about a year, according to business today.

Whatsapp Pay would provide a very easy interface which would make sending money as simple as sending a text message over the app. Business today also added that the company intends to bring the feature to other countries as well, but as for now, the feature is only coming to India.

"We believe that if we get this right, it will accelerate financial inclusion and bring value for people in India's fast growing digital economy," Cathcart reportedly said. "We can't wait to provide the service [to] more of our users all across India later this year."

Approximately 400 million Indians use WhatsApp, and about 1.5 billion use it globally, stated the report. Facebook makes the announcement amidst launching their own cryptocurrency ‘Libra’. Libra will however not make its presence in India due to a recently suggested cryptocurrency ban.