WhatsApp Revolutionizes India's Payment Landscape with New In-App Options for Seamless Commerce
WhatsApp expands its commerce offerings in India by introducing credit card payments and rival digital payment providers' services within its app This move aims to enhance the platform's market presence and provide users with more convenient payment options
WhatsApp announced on Wednesday that it plans to introduce credit card payments and services from competing digital payment providers within its app in India. This move comes as part of the messaging platform's efforts, under Meta's ownership, to enhance its commerce offerings in its largest market. While WhatsApp boasts over 500 million users in India, regulators have currently limited the availability of its in-app WhatsApp Pay service to only 100 million individuals.
WhatsApp users will now have the convenience of making payments within the app itself, eliminating the need for redirection to external platforms such as Google Pay, Paytm, or PhonePe. Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, announced this in a blog post, stating that users will also have the added benefit of using credit and debit cards for payments.
The inclusion of these new features strengthens Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's strategy to make business messaging a key driver of the company's revenue growth. This focus has become more pressing as Meta's core advertising business and metaverse project face challenges. In India, there will continue to be a limit on the number of WhatsApp Pay users, but there are no restrictions on the number of users able to engage with businesses on WhatsApp through alternative methods, according to a spokesperson from Meta.
With approximately 300 million individuals spending around $180 billion per month using India's UPI, these new transaction alternatives could become an enticing incentive for businesses to pay Meta in order to access WhatsApp users.
Up until now, WhatsApp has restricted its end-to-end shopping experiences in India to pilot programs such as the one with online grocery service JioMart, which is operated by India's wealthiest individual, billionaire Mukesh Ambani, and the metro systems in Chennai and Bengaluru.
The new payment tools will now be accessible to all Indian companies using WhatsApp's business platform, which primarily caters to large companies, stated the blog post.
Moreover, Meta is globally expanding its Meta Verified subscription program for businesses. This program enables companies to validate their authenticity and boost the visibility of their content in users' feeds, according to a separate blog post.
Monthly subscriptions will be initially offered on Instagram and Facebook in a limited number of countries. Eventually, these subscriptions will also be extended to WhatsApp. The cost for a subscription will be $21.99 for either a Facebook page or an Instagram account, while opting for both will cost $34.99, as mentioned in the post.
