The mass popular application– WhatsApp has approximately 200 million monthly active users in India and is considered by many to be India’s favourite chat app.
Going head-to-head with Paytm and Google Tez in a bid to become India’s favourite app in the digital payments space, the Facebook-owned global messaging app, launched a beta payment service for both Android and iOS, in the country this week. The corporate giant had been working on this since it got the approval for UPI integration in July 2017.
The payments feature will take advantage of UPI (Unified Payments Interface) and include support by a number of banks, including the State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and Axis Bank. UPI is a system through which Indian users can transact across 30 banks in the country with the help of a smartphone.
Now, we will get to the how-tos of the payment service in Whatsapp.
1) Since it is a UPI-based payment feature, your WhatsApp number should be same as your mobile number linked to your bank account with UPI option support as well.
2) To enable the payment service, you will find the Payment Option in the settings of Whatsapp. Once here, you will have to select the ‘add a bank account’ option and accept its terms and conditions. After that, you will be asked to verify your number.
Please note that since it is the beta version of the service, not all users will see the Payments option when they open WhatsApp. However, the feature gets activated after someone with the Payments feature messages the user. Once that is done, refresh the app, and you will be good to go.
3) After your number has been verified, the list of banks will appear. Choose the bank with which you have an account and ensure that your bank account is already linked to UPI.
WhatsApp Payments also offers an option to create a UPI account with a pin if you don’t have one, for authenticating the payments. This can be done in less than 10 minutes by just following the instructions.
4) After that you would have to add details of your debit card, so make sure you have your card handy. And after that, voila! You will be good to go.
5) Now, for the actual transaction, go to any personal or group chat and select the person to whom you want to transfer the amount. Select the ‘Attachment’ option where you would be able to see the option to send money. You will have to enter the amount after which, your UPI pin or the OTP will complete the transaction.
The WhatsApp payment options is definitely a game changer, and here’s hoping the service may just make our everyday lives a bit easier!
Read more about the world’s highly ranked payment service: India’s Digital Payments System Rated Higher Than China, UK and Japan
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