Technology: Starting today, Facebook-owned WhatsApp will start operating its ‘UPI payments service’ in the world’s biggest open technology market. WhatsApp received NPCI approval on Wednesday evening to ‘Go Live’ on UPI in a graded manner.
At this time, WhatsApp Pay is being rolled out for 20 million WhatsApp users in India, with expansion to enable the option for more users happening in a phased manner.
WhatsApp Pay will use the unified Payments Interface (UPI), a real-time payments system supported by more than 160 banks in India. While WhatsApp Pay had been available to some users for an extended trial period for a while now, this is the official rollout of the payments service. WhatsApp Pay goes into battle against the likes of Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm.
“This secure payments experience makes transferring money just as easy as sending a message,” WhatsApp said in a statement.
“People can safely send money to a family member or share the cost of goods from a distance without having to exchange cash in person or going to a local bank,” it added.
“Just like every feature in WhatsApp, payments is designed with a strong set of security and privacy principles, including entering a personal UPI PIN for each payment,” the statement said.
To setup your account, follow these steps:
1) Click on the WhatsApp app on your mobile phone and select the three-dotted icon visible on the top right corner of your screen.
2) Select ‘Payments’, then ‘Add payment method’
3) A list of bank names will be on your screen.
4) After you finish selecting your bank name, your cell number, which is linked with the bank, will be verified.
5) For verification, a user needs to select ‘Verify’ via SMS.
Note: You need to make sure the WhatsApp number is the same as the one linked to your bank a/c.
6) Once you’re done with the verification process, a user then needs to complete setting up payments.
7) A UPI pin is mandatory for carrying out transactions on WhatsApp similar to how it’s on other apps.
8) Following this, you can see the chosen bank on the payments page.
If user wants to send or receive money
1) Open any chat on WhatsApp and select the ‘attachment’ icon.
2) Click on ‘Payment’ and add the money you want to send to the person. A user can also add a note.
3) To finish the payment process on WhatsApp, you will have to enter your UPI PIN.
4) After you finish you transaction, you will get a confirmation message.
Payments on WhatsApp is now available for users on the latest version of the iPhone and Android app.