WhatsApp was founded in the year 2009 and was taken over by Facebook in the year 2014 for $19 billion. That was considered to be the biggest tech company acquisition until now. There is a buzz going on that WhatsApp is soon going to launch its payment service in India. Last year in February, WhatsApp has launched its beta testing program to few users in India. WhatsApp has now more than 400 million users in India and out of that one million users have already tested the service in India. So what is WhatsApp Pay and how WhatsApp Pay works? Here are the complete details you need to know about WhatsApp Pay.
What is WhatsApp Pay?
WhatsApp Pay is the payment service introduced by the WhatsApp messaging app. The app is using the existing Facebook infrastructure and UPI payment platform to let users transfer money from one account to another account. WhatsApp users can link their bank account and send/receive money in India. All the banks that support the UPI payment platform can be linked to WhatsApp Pay easily. Through the UPI platform, user can send money to a virtual address known as Virtual Payment Address (VPA). The fund can be transferred on all the 365 days and round the clock. The fund transfer process is quite easy and fast as compare to any other mode of payment like NEFT, RTGS, etc.
During the testing phase, the WhatsApp payment feature is available to only a few users through an invite. But going forward when the feature is available to all, the users have to just link their bank account and they are good to go.
Right now for enabling this feature on your phone, WhatsApp beta user will have to initiate a payment to you. Once the payment request is received the payment will get failed. But you will get the option of WhatsApp Payment in your mobile app. You then just have to set up your bank account in order to send/receive money.
Users will be able to send money directly in chat. They just have to enter the amount and UPI PIN number and your payment will be transferred easily. You will get a green badge beside the paid amount as a confirmation of your transaction.
In March 2019, WhatsApp Pay has introduced QR code for its payment service. So the user can send /receive money by just scanning the QR code.
Features of WhatsApp Pay
- Peer-to-Peer money transfer through the app
- Easy and fast money transfer through in-app feature (no need to install the additional app)
- UPI ID will be auto-generated by the app
- Payment confirmation can be seen in the chat itself
- Pay using QR code
How WhatsApp Pay Works?
Making payment through WhatsApp is very easy and can be done in the chat window only. Here are the steps you need to follow in order to make payment through the WhatsApp Pay feature.
For Android users:
- Open the chat window of the person whom you want to make the payment.
- Click on the attachment icon.
- Click on the “Payment” option
- It will ask you to accept the terms and conditions for the first time.
- Click “Agree” on the terms and conditions.
- Enter the amount you want to transfer.
- Enter your UPI PIN and send money
For iOS users:
- Click on the ‘+’ symbol in the chat window of the person you want to send the money
- Click on the “Payment” option
- It will ask you to accept the terms and condition for the first time.
- Click “Agree” on the terms and conditions.
- Enter the amount you want to transfer.
- Enter your UPI PIN and send money
How to send money using WhatsApp Pay QR code?
- Go to the ‘Settings’ tab
- Select the ‘Payment’ option
- Select new payment option
- Select ‘Scan QR code button’
- Scan the QR code
- Enter the amount you want to transfer
- Enter the UPI PIN to authenticate the transaction
- Send the money
Hope this clarifies the process of sending money through WhatsApp Pay. My intent is to give you complete information about how WhatsApp Pay Works? and I think I have shared all the necessary information here which will help you to set up your WhatsApp Pay account and make payments to your friend and family.
WhatsApp Pay will surely be the challenge to the existing players like Paytm, Google Pay and MobiKwik. WhatsApp is having an edge over other players is its existing user base of 400 million in India. Image the large user base who will use the payment feature provided by WhatsApp. With the huge user base, the WhatsApp Pay will become the market leader in digital payments in India soon after its official launch.
WhatsApp has set up the necessary data center in India as directed by RBI last year. The service is being audited by India computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN). Once this audit is completed and WhatsApp gets a ‘Go ahead’ from the RBI, it will officially launch its payment service in India. The service is expected to launch before the end of the year 2019.
Will WhatsApp Pay become a market leader?
As mentioned above, WhatsApp already has a user base of 400 million alone in India. Converting these users to payments will be easier and cheaper. The user also will be more inclined towards using WhatsApp Pay as they do not have to download any additional app on their mobile and there is no hassle of signing up.
If we see the success story of WeChat Pay in China, it is a top player in China’s mobile payment market with 800 million monthly active users (MAU) and it is due to the WeChat app which has over 1 billion MAU.
WhatsApp has become an integral part of the people who are using smartphones. With a huge existing base of 400 million in India, leveraging this existing base with attractive offers is a key to success for WhatsApp Pay in India.
India’s digital payment market is expected to rise from $200 billion in 2018 to $1 trillion in the year 2023. If WhatsApp Pay is able to convert its existing base to payments and acquire new users, it can soon be a threat to the existing players like Paytm and Google Pay. Here I have written a detailed article on Paytm vs WhatsApp Pay to check which one is better.
Conclusion:
Hope through this article you now have to complete an idea about how WhatsApp Pay works? If you still have any doubts or queries, please share the same with me in the comment section below. I would love to help you with your queries.