WhatsApp Introduces New Payment Options in India to Expand Commerce
In its latest move to enhance its commerce offerings in India, WhatsApp announced on Wednesday that it will introduce credit card payments and services from competing digital payment providers within its app. This initiative by the Meta-owned service aims to further expand its presence in the country’s largest market.
WhatsApp has more than 500 million users in India, although regulators there have limited its in-app WhatsApp Pay service to just 100 million people. People shopping on WhatsApp can also pay using popular services such as Alphabet Inc’s Google Pay, Paytm and Walmart’s PhonePe, but only after being directed outside of WhatsApp.
Payments through these competing services – and all others that work on India’s instant money transfer system UPI – are now possible directly on WhatsApp, Meta said in a blog post. New in-app options are also offered for credit and debit cards.
The additions support Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s plan for corporate communications to become the “next main pillar” of the company’s sales growth. This agenda has become even more urgent as Meta’s core advertising business and the metaverse project have come under pressure.
While WhatsApp Pay users remain limited in India, there is no such limit on the number of users who can transact with businesses on WhatsApp in other ways, a Meta spokesperson said.
With around 300 million people spending around $180 billion across India through UPI every month, the new transaction options could act as a powerful enticement to entice businesses to pay Metal for access to WhatsApp users.
So far, WhatsApp has limited its comprehensive shopping experiences in India to pilot programs such as JioMart, the online shopping service run by India’s richest man, billionaire Mukesh Ambani, and the metro systems in the cities of Chennai and Bengaluru.
Going forward, the new payment tools will be available to all Indian businesses using WhatsApp’s business platform, which mainly caters to large enterprises, according to the blog post.
Meta is also expanding its Meta Verified subscription program to businesses worldwide, giving businesses a mechanism to validate authenticity and elevate their content in user feeds, a separate blog post said.
Monthly subscriptions are available on Instagram and Facebook in a few countries, and will later expand to WhatsApp, and cost $21.99 per Facebook Page or Instagram account, or $34.99 for both, according to the release.
