Heena Sharma Blog

  WhatsApp has launched a new shopping button on its app that will allow users to browse through a business' catalogue, the Facebook-owned messaging service said in a press release. With the new feature, people will be able to see a storefront icon, right next to the business' name. This will make it easier for users to discover a catalogue and look at what goods or services are offered, WhatsApp said in the emailed release. Earlier, users had to click on the business profile to see if it offered a ready list of items. The button will also help businesses boost the visibility of their products. "This will make it easier for businesses to have their products discovered which can help increase sales," the email said. The shopping button will replace the voice call button. Now, users will have to tap on the call button to select either a voice or video call. The new feature has been launched worldwide, the messaging service added. Read More

The US Federal Reserve, or the Fed, should replicate India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) model for its proposed interbank real-time gross settlement (RTGS) service, Google has recommended. Launched in 2016, the UPI is the country’s flagship real-time payments system, which allows users to transfer money directly from their bank accounts. Since it works across multiple bank accounts, without revealing the details of one’s account to the other party, it makes paying someone as simple as handing over cash. It clocked 1.2 billion transactions in November, valued at Rs 1.89 trillion. Citing the UPI’s phenomenal success in India, Google, in a letter to the Fed, said FedNow should be an open system, like the UPI. “ We’ve been pretty vocal that we believe the right model for driving digital payments is through partnership between banks, governments and tech companies through open and standard-based infrastructures like UPI,” tweeted Caesar Sengupta, general manager & vice-pr