WhatsApp to hasten payments services to 200 million Indians
The messaging app will partner HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank to
process the transfers, and State Bank of India will join once it has the
necessary systems in place
Technology News: Facebook is set to offer its WhatsApp payment services to the
whole of India as early as next week in an attempt to win market share, even
though its partners aren’t all ready, said people familiar with the matter.
The messaging app will partner HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank to process the transfers,
and State Bank of India will join once it has the necessary systems in place,
the people said. Facebook was aiming for a full
rollout with four partners but decided to go ahead with just three as its
rivals were racing ahead, the people said, asking not to be named as the
information isn’t public.
The entry of Whats app into India’s payments space
has been likened to We Chat, which reshaped payments in China when it expanded
beyond messaging. The pilot version of Whats
App Pay — started with 1 million users in February — received rave
reviews, threatening the market share of incumbents Google Tez and Alibaba-backed Paytm,
which lack the benefits of a social network.
“WhatsApp has a great starting point: a monopoly in chat,”
said Vivek Belgavi, leader for financial technology at PwC India. “High
engagement makes it a credible competition.” More than 200 million Indians
already use WhatsApp messaging, equivalent to 60 percent of the US population
and a daily active usage that Forrester estimates to be about 20 times higher
than Paytm’s.
Emails to representatives of WhatsApp, State Bank of India,
HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank weren’t immediately
answered.
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