It looks like WhatsApp is gearing up to foray into mobile payments. The Facebook owned instant messaging app is planning to launch a peer-to-peer payment system in India that is likely to be powered by the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), according to a latest report from The Ken.
The report says WhatsApp is hiring a head of digital transactions specializing in UPI, Aadhaar and BHIM payment. Earlier in February, WhatsApp announced it has over 200 million active users in India. WhatsApp co-founder, Brian Acton had also mentioned that the company may enter digital payments in the country this year. The report further added WhatsApp also considered mobile wallets, but the draft RBI guidelines of March 20 had led to some uncertainty. It is interesting to see that WhatsApp is going with UPI as its primary choice for a payments platform.
Digital payments has received a major push post demonetization. Last month, Samsung officially launched Samsung Pay mobile payments service in India. India is also the biggest market for WhatsApp being a second largest smartphone market.