People across India will be able to send money on WhatsApp from now on. This secure payments experience will make transferring money just as easy as sending a message for 2-crore Indians. People can safely send money to their friends, family or acquaintances without having to exchange cash in person or going to a local bank.
WhatsApp has designed its payments feature in partnership with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) using the Unified Payment Interface (UPI), an India-first, the real-time payment system that enables transactions with over 160 supported banks. To send money on WhatsApp in India, it’s necessary to have a bank account and debit card in India. WhatsApp sends instructions to banks, also known as payment service providers, which initiate the transfer of money via UPI between sender and receiver bank accounts. Just like every feature on WhatsApp, Payments is designed with a strong set of security and privacy principles, including entering a personal UPI PIN for each payment. Payments is available now in ten Indian regional language versions of WhatsApp. The user needs a debit card with a bank that supports UPI.