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WhatsApp to introduce payments to its platform

WhatsApp to introduce payments to its platform

(18 August 2017 – India) Reports indicate that Facebook owned messenger app, WhatsApp will be the lastest platform offering user the ability to make payments, and transfer money via text. 

An early version of the app’s next update revealed the service could soon support payments.

WhatsApp, which has more than a billion users a day, is trialing "immediate bank to bank transfer with UPI". UPI, or Unified Payments Interface, is a payments system run by the Reserve Bank of India, which appears to confirm reports that the payments service would be coming to India first.

An initial release in India, where WhatsApp has been recruiting local payment app experts, would give around 200 million users the ability to transfer money through the app.

WhatsApp refused to comment on its future plans for WhatsApp Payments, but said: "India is an important country for WhatsApp, and we're understanding how we can contribute more to the vision of Digital India. We're exploring how we might work with companies that share this vision and continuing to listen closely to feedback from our users."

WhatsApp's biggest competition in India will be from Chinese eCommerce giant Alibaba, which owns payments startup PayTM.

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