WhatsApp launched its Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based money transferring platform as WhatsApp Payments last February itself however the service was introduced to a limited user base of about 1 million users. Due to a few technical and regulatory hurdles, the instant messaging company could not expand the service in India. However, things seems to be clearing out now and as per a recent report the company may roll out WhatsApp Payments in India around September 2019.
As reported by The Economic Times two bankers familiar with the matter told the publication company that the Facebook owned instant messaging App may take up to five months in localizing its payments-related information in India and in becoming available to all its users across the country.
“WhatsApp may have started working on creating provisions to store payments data within the country, but to finish the third-party audit and to comply with all technical requirements, it will easily take time till August or September,” one of the bankers said in a statement to the publication.
At present, WhatsApp is being used by a limited number of users in India. As of now, WhatsApp is offering the service in collaboration with several banks including the State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and the Axis Bank.
As suggested by the reports, earlier this month the company had agreed to comply with the norms prescribed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and store the payments related data on servers within the country itself.
“We plan to comply with RBI guidelines. Only some engineering work is left,” a senior Facebook executive had said in a statement to the ET.
Moreover, the company as the report suggests has already began working with the third-party auditors for localization of its payments related data as the social messaging company required to get a third-party done by CERT IN-empanelled auditors, apart from plan of storing the payment data within the country.
So, very soon, if things go well, WhatsApp users in India will be able to send and receive money using the app apart from communicating with the friends and family.
Source: India Today