Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions by way of WhatsApp remained tepid in March, 4 months considering the fact that the function went live for 20 million customers on the messaging app. Despite early predictions that payments by means of the messaging app would explode after the function went live, WhatsApp accounted for only .02% of UPI volumes and .01% of transaction worth.
Industry executives FE spoke to stated that the restricted quantity of transactions could be attributable to the truth that the Facebook-owned organization might not have begun implementing its plans for payments. “They haven’t quite given it a push, at least not yet,” a senior executive with a private bank stated on situation of anonymity.
What this indicates is that they have not aggressively began acquiring merchants to allow peer-to-merchant (P2M) transactions. There has also been tiny marketing and advertising buzz about the payment function and, not to neglect, a majority of WhatsApp’s 400 million-sturdy user base in India lacks access to it. The organization does have about 15 million customers on its WhatsApp for Business app, created particularly for the kirana shop owner. In 2019, the organization released catalogues for shop owners to showcase their merchandise to their clients and in 2020, it added more new capabilities to the company app.
An e-mail searching for a response from WhatsApp India on its payments technique remained unanswered till the time of going to press. In December, the organization had announced its plans to allow the sale of “sachet-sized” well being insurance coverage merchandise by way of its platform. The messaging giant is also operating pilots in the locations of micro-pension, edtech and agritech, stated Abhijit Bose, head of WhatsApp India, speaking at Facebook’s Fuel for India occasion.
While State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank are WhatsApp’s partners in payments, in the pension and insurance coverage space, the organization would be partnering with pinBox Solutions, HDFC Pension Management Company and SBI General Insurance. “WhatsApp has proactively been working on several pilots to help ensure that every adult has access to the most basic and critical financial livelihood services through their mobile device. By the end of this year, we expect that people will be able to buy affordable sachet-sized health insurance through WhatsApp,” Bose had stated, adding that the organization is also working on pension services for the informal sector in India.
In February 2018, when WhatsApp had gone for a beta launch of its payments facility for 1 million of its 230 million customers, Credit Suisse had stated that the function could lead digital payments “to explode” and develop the size of the market place to US$1 trillion more than a 5-year horizon.
In March 2021, PhonePe led the UPI market place, processing 44% of all transactions on the channel and crossing the 1 billion-transaction mark through the month. It was followed by Google Pay and Paytm.