The fact that WhatsApp is planning to launch its peer-to-peer payment service in India has been creating fair amount of buzz from a while and the latest reports indicate that we might not have to wait too long for it to arrive. The service is apparently available now in the beta version of WhatsApp in Android.
As per WAbetaInfo, that keeps track on the development and updates of the online messaging app, WhatsApp beta for Android 2.17.295 has been included with the UPI Payments service that was in talks from few months. “WhatsApp Payments: ‘the immediate bank to bank transfer with UPI’, reports the official WhatsApp Payments section for Android, that it is still hidden and under development. As mentioned in the screenshot, in order to use WhatsApp Payments, you will have to accept the WhatsApp Payments and Bank Terms and Privacy Policy.” reads the WAbetaInfo blog.
Previously it was reported that, WhatsApp is apparently in talks with SBI and NPCI for Unified Payments Interface (UPI) integration in India. Due to the complexity of the architecture, WhatsApp was in discussions with the State Bank of India, NPCI and few other banks to devise ways to integrate their systems with the bank and with NPCI. WhatsApp at that time was at ‘proof of concept’ stage, and was looking at ways to integrate with the back-end which now seems to have sorted out.
It was high time for WhatsApp to roll out the service as Hike has already launched its UPI based payment service in India. Hike has partnered with Yes Bank to carry out the processes and has become the first messenger in India to launch UPI based payment service even before WhatsApp. It is uncertain as of when the UPI based payment service will be available for public but its inclusion in beta version certainly indicates that to happen soon enough.
We’ll keep you updated with more on this and other tech news, stay tuned!