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WhatsApp may be about to introduce peer-to-peer payments in India, which is its largest market with over 200 million users.<\/p>\n
A report from The Ken<\/a>, an India-based subscription media company that we recently profiled<\/a>, claims that WhatsApp plans to use UPI, a cross-bank payment system backed by the government, to begin allow money transfers between users within the next six months.<\/p>\n \u201cIndia is an important country for WhatsApp, and we\u2019re understanding how we can contribute more to the vision of Digital India. We\u2019re exploring how we might work with companies that share this vision and continuing to listen closely to feedback from our users,\u201d\u00a0WhatsApp told TechCrunch in a statement.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not a denial \u2014 nor, admittedly, a direct admission \u2014 but the new feature would make a lot of sense for the Facebook-owned company, which claims over one billion active users worldwide.<\/p>\n On a visit to India in February, which included a meeting with the country\u2019s\u00a0IT Minister, WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton admitted<\/a> that the company was \u201cin the early stages\u201d of looking into how it can incorporate payment services.<\/p>\n Others have already\u00a0taken that jump. Sweden-based Truecaller, which counts India as its largest market, introduced user-to-user payments<\/a>\u00a0last week through a tie-in with\u00a0ICICI Bank that also utilizes UPI. It is hoping that the new functionality will help it compete for engagement with WhatsApp and other messaging apps like Hike, which raised money from Tencent at a billion-dollar valuation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Facebook added payments to its Messenger app some time ago in the U.S., but such a feature inside WhatsApp could be far more transformative in India, where Messenger is less popular. Credit card penetration is far lower in India, while WhatsApp has already emerged as a platform for facilitating e-commerce despite currently offering no features that expressly support that.<\/p>\n That\u2019s also an area of interest, though.\u00a0WhatsApp said last year it would\u00a0explore the potential<\/a> to give\u00a0\u201cbusinesses that matter\u201d to its users a presence on its platform. That feature was originally scheduled to ship before the end of 2016, but it is yet to go live, although WhatsApp is\u00a0reportedly testing business search features<\/a>\u00a0with a handful of selected companies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/03\/whatsapp.jpg?w=680\")
WhatsApp may be about to introduce peer-to-peer payments in India, which is its largest market with over 200 million users. A report from The Ken, an India-based subscription media company that we recently profiled, claims that WhatsApp plans to use UPI, a cross-bank payment system backed by the government, to begin allow money transfers between users within the next six months. “India is… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/img><\/a>
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