Know how to send and receive money using the WhatsApp Payments feature on the messaging app
Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp has been testing its digital payments feature for both Android and iOS in India for some time now. Currently, in beta stage, testers have now found the payments feature appearing in their WhatsApp Settings menu with a large list of supported banks displaying in the WhatsApp user interface.
The WhatsApp Payments feature that will let users in India to send and receive money from their friends from the messaging app itself. The messaging platform will integrate its peer-to-peer UPI or Unified Payments Interface based digital payments platform with leading banks, including State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and Axis Bank. However, users who are registered as merchants on the chat app or have a WhatsApp Business account will still not be able to use this feature.
For those unaware, UPI is like a unique identification of the user which bank uses to transfer money via IMPS.
WhatsApp has been working on the digital transaction feature since 2017, once it got approval from the Indian government to integrate UPI into its messaging service. The UPI-based payment feature has been spotted in WhatsApp beta version 2.18.41 for Android and 2.18.21 for iOS.
With a strong user base of over 200 million across India, WhatsApp is likely to be at advantage from the start giving tough completion to the already existing digital wallets in the country, such as Paytm, Hike, MobiKwik, government-owned BHIM to the recently launched Google Tez.
The official roll-out of WhatsApp Payments for the general public is likely to be announced very soon. Although, the FAQ page on payments is not yet updated by WhatsApp, the terms and service page along with the privacy policy page for the app is live now. Users can check these out before turning on Payments service on WhatsApp.
To activate the feature you need to have the latest update of WhatsApp. And if someone who has the feature of WhatsApp payment already live messages to your device, you will need to reboot the app in order to get ‘Payments’ reflect on your app. Once the Payments is reflected in your app, all you need to do is follow the below mentioned steps to start transferring money via WhatsApp.
To activate UPI or Unified Payments Interface on WhatsApp, you need to follow the below steps:
- Go to Settings.
- Tap on Payments.
- You will be requested to ‘add a bank account’ here.
- Once you tap on ‘add new bank account’, a pop up will appear that will ask you accept the terms and conditions provided by WhatsApp.
- Once you accept the terms and conditions, you need to verify your mobile number.
- Please note that UPI will not check the entered mobile number and the bank accounts linked with it. Therefore, you need to ensure that the mobile phone has the same SIM card that you use for your WhatsApp account.
- Once your mobile number has been verified, the list of banks that support the feature will appear.
- Choose your bank account with which your UPI is activated.
- Now, you have chosen the bank account you would like to add to UPI on WhatsApp.
- Once this is done, you will now need to create a Virtual Payee Address (VPA). For this, you would require to input the last six digits of debit card number along with necessary information.
- After doing that, you can now transfer money to a chat or a group.
Note: If the user you wish to transfer money doesn’t have WhatsApp Payments, then the messaging app will advise you about the same.
Last month, WhatsApp had officially rolled out “WhatsApp Business”, a free-to download Android app for small businesses to help them communicate better with their customers and vice-versa in India.
Source: Financial Express
