WhatsApp to double payments offering from 20 million to 40 million users in India

New Delhi: The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has approved increasing the user cap for WhatsApp's payment service from 20 million to 40 million, thus intensifying competition in the Indian digital payments industry.

WhatsApp announced earlier this month that it is lobbying for an increase in the user cap above 20 million and that this is being considered by NPCI. NPCI will gradually expand this so that the payment system is not overburdened.

In India's digital payments market, WhatsApp competes with Alphabet Inc's Google Pay, SoftBank and Ant Group-backed Paytm, and Walmart's PhonePe.

In November of last year, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which controls the country's retail payment and settlement systems, approved WhatsApp to begin offering payment services with a cap of 20 million users. With its massive user base in India, the Meta-owned firm was supposed to disrupt the payments market, but it had not taken off in a big way.

WhatsApp has almost reached its user base of 20 million for payment services, said the source, who declined to be identified as the details are private.

Online transactions, lending and e-wallet services have been growing rapidly in India, led by a government push to make the country’s cash-loving merchants and consumers adopt digital payments.