WhatsApp to open payments platform

The social media platform WhatsApp is going to launch its digital payment services for businesses.

The Facebook-owned messaging app has established data storage facilities within India to meet the norms of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

WhatsApp’s move paves a way to launch digital payment services commercially. RBI made it mandatory for all payment firms to store the data of Indian customers on local services to manage them easily.

WhatsApp is expected to go live with its Unified Payments Interface-based service with ICICI BankNSE. Their services are extended through Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI later.

As per sources, WhatsApp has finished all requirements of data localization and moved to the audit process.

The payments application will go live after the submission of audit report to the RBI.

As per the guidelines of the RBI, the data payment companies should have to set up data storage facilities in the country first and then submit an audit report to RBI.

However, the audit has to be conducted only by the auditors empanelled with the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, CERT-IN.

WhatsApp launched its payment service last year on a pilot basis. The norms of the RBI on data localization has delayed its services. Other factors like spreading of fake news on it and privacy concerns of Facebook also hindered WhatsApp to launch its payments services in a full-fledged manner.

WhatsApp’s payment services are going live after remedial measures like establishing localized data servers and conducting awareness drives against spreading of fake news.

While launching its services in February last year, WhatsApp partnered with ICICI Bank, but they were limited to a beta service.

The report of NPCI states that there are 39 third-party applications in the country. These include Google Pay, Amazon, Uber and Ola which access UPI as a payments platform.

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