WhatsApp gets NPCI approval to onboard 100 Mn users on UPI

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WhatsApp gets NPCI approval to onboard 100 Mn
users on UPI
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)
has approved an additional sixty (60) million
users on UPI for WhatsApp. With this approval,
WhatsApp will be able to expand the service to
its 100 million users, a significant victory for
the payments service that Meta hasnt yet heavily
marketed to users. In November 2021, WhatsApp was
allowed by NPCI to expand its registered user
base to 40 million in UPI from 20 million
users a year ago. Till then, only 10 million
users were allowed to use the digital
payments feature. As per Industry sources,
WhatsApp has been trying to get the nod
for UPI payments feature for maximum or all
users in India. The fresh permission would allow
the instant messaging app to cover around 1520
of its total user base via its UPI-based payments
service. As of February 2021, WhatsApp had 530
million users in India. While WhatsApp has
managed to expand its payments feature at regular
intervals, the Facebook-owned now Meta
company failed to grab sizable volume since
its entry into the UPI race. As per NPCI
statistics, WhatsApp had recorded only 2.54
million transactions via UPI in March this
year. According to analytics firm Sensor Towers
data, WhatsApps global installs stand at 6.27
billion to date with India contributing around
25, or 1.55 billion.
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Overall, UPI had recorded 5.4 billion
transactions in which PhonePe has maintained
its leadership position in the UPI ecosystem
since Dec 2020. During the last month, it had
46.7 market share, as per NPCI data. Google Pay
and Paytm were at the second and third spot with
1,838.12 million and 729.6 million transactions
respectively. To protect the UPI ecosystem from
dominance by a handful of players, NPCI had put a
cap of 30 of the total volume of transactions
processed in UPI for all third-party app
providers. However, NPCI has given leeway to
existing players such as PhonePe and Google Pay
to comply with the mandate till the end of the
year. For more such information on latest
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