How about you want to send money to your friend but feeling lazy? What if you can send money to your friend just like you are chatting with him/her? WhatsApp has become an integral part of our life. In India, PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm are leading the digital payment market. But this is going to be the history soo. The daddy of all WhatsApp is launching its Payment service soon in India. These three market leaders will have a tough time soon when the WhatsApp Pay will be available to its 400 million users in India at one go. Let’s compare Paytm vs WhatsApp Pay on various features they are providing and check which one is going to be on top in the Indian payment industry.
In the year 2016, right after the Diwali festival, Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi has given a big jerk to the whole country with demonetization. After demonetization, Mr. Modi’s drive for digital India is a core project for the government. Since then there is a huge jump in the digital payment transactions in India.
Facebook-owned WhatsApp now wants to join the club by providing its payment service in the name of WhatsApp Pay in India very soon. In Feb 2018, WhatsApp has launched its beta program for its payment service in India. Since then there are around one million users who have tested WhatsApp Pay till now. These testing numbers are itself a record for any service being launched.
Due to the RBI guideline which requires to set up the data center in the country rather than setting it up in the US. So WhatsApp has to hold back its official launch last year.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company was “actively working to launch WhatsApp Pay in India”. But due to the data security hurdles, it got postponed by a year. Now WhatsApp is hoping to launch its payment service in India before the end of the year 2019.
Now let’s compare Paytm vs WhatsApp Pay and check who is the winner.
Paytm vs WhatsApp Pay
Let’s run through the various features provided by these apps and see who is the winner.
KYC Compliance
Setting up an account in Paytm is simple and fast. You just need to enter your mobile number and email address and you are good to go. But due to recent changes in the RBI guideline, now all Paytm accounts need to be KYC compliant. So one who is using paytm till now will have to get the one time KYC done in order to use the Paytm’s all features and services.
On the other hand, WhatsApp Pay is UPI based payment service that doesn’t require any KYC compliance. You just have to set up your bank account once and you are ready to send/receive money anywhere in India. You don’t even have to set the UPI ID in WhatsApp Pay. The app will itself do it for you.
Score: Paytm: 0 WhatsApp Pay: 1
Ease of Use
This is going to be a game-changer. WhatsApp Pay will work as an add on feature into the existing WhatsApp mobile app. You are not required to download any extra mobile app from the app store. Sending money is as simple as chatting. The in-app money transfer feature will help you to send/receive money while you are chatting with someone. The money will directly be debited/credited to your linked bank account.
On the other hand, for using Paytm you need to download the app from the app store and get yourself registered on the platform. For transferring money through Paytm, you need to open the app, enter the address, load the wallet first and then you will be able to transfer the money. In Paytm you need to load the wallet through debit/credit card, net banking and then you can use that balance to perform various tasks like mobile recharge, DTH recharge, movie ticket booking and so on.
Score: Paytm: 0 WhatsApp Pay: 2
Cashback and Rewards
Cash backs and rewards are the favorites of Indians. We Indians are so obsessed with the cashback that we always find the deals where we can get the cash backs. Paytm is the market leader when we talk about cashback and rewards. It is offering various deals and discounts on various services. In fact, Paytm has changed the way we pay our utility bills and book movie tickets.
WhatsApp Pay, on the other hand, is a leader when we talk about the user base in India. There are 400 million active users every month. Imagine with such a huge user base, why WhatsApp Pay would give you cashback. Secondly, WhatsApp Pay is just a UPI based payment platform which is not selling any product to anyone. So it will not be able to pass on the cashback to you.
Score: Paytm: 1 WhatsApp Pay: 2
Direct to Bank
Paytm and WhatsApp Pay both provide UPI payment platforms in which you don’t require to store the money in the mobile wallet and the money will be directly debited/credited to your bank account instead of storing it in the wallet.
Paytm has an option to store the money in its mobile wallet for future use. You will not get any interest on the money stored in the paytm wallet. So there is no point in storing the money in the mobile wallet.
Score: Paytm: 1 WhatsApp Pay: 3
Payment Option
Paytm offers a wide range of payment options to choose from. You can pay money using your debit/credit card, net banking, UPI, NEFT and so on. So you will find most of the payment options in the Paytm mobile app. Paytm offers to scan of QR code through which you can easily send/receive money from anyone.
While on the other hand, WhatsApp Pay is just a UPI platform and doesn’t support debit/credit card or net banking transactions. So it will largely be used for peer to peer (P2P) money transfer. If you are running a small business and want to collect money from your customers then WhatsApp Pay is of no use. Even you will not be able to view your business transactions if you are using WhatsApp Pay. In short, WhatsApp Pay cannot be used for a person to business (P2B) model. WhatsApp Pay doesn’t support QR code as of now.
Score: Paytm: 2 WhatsApp Pay: 3
Customer Support
To me, this is one of my main criteria when I shortlist any product or service in India. Today there are multiple companies selling the same products and services at a competitive price. What separates market leaders from the rest are the good customer service. Good customer service is the key differentiator in any business.
Paytm is the market leader and providing good customer service for the last 10 years. So I can trust Paytm that if anything goes wrong, my money will be in safe hands.
WhatsApp Pay is a new entrant in the digital payment market. They need to set up the customer service department and its processes. So there will be a delay in the customer service at least in the early stage of its launch.
Score: Paytm: 3 WhatsApp Pay: 3
Oops! it’s a tie. Yes both the product is strong in its own way. Paytm is the market leader in the digital payment industry and has seen ups and downs. While on the other hand, WhatsApp is the widely used mobile messaging app with a whopping 400 million user base in India. So it can disrupt the payments market easily.
Paytm vs WhatsApp Pay – Who is going to win?
As you can see above there are few points where Paytm stand strong and in a few others, WhatsApp Pay is leading. Paytm is the core digital payment app widely used by Indians for the last 10 years. While WhatsApp Pay is basically a chat app that is entering into the payment industry. The only plus point I can see for WhatsApp Pay success is the huge existing user base. If you ask me, I will use WhatsApp Pay to send/receive money from my friends and family and use Paytm for doing other transactions like mobile recharge, movie ticket booking and so on.
Let the WhatsApp Pay launch in India. The initial usage will surely be high due to its existing user base. But to prove its metal, WhatsApp Pay has to provide much more than just a peer to peer money transfer app.
Also Read: Paytm vs Google Pay