The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has approved WhatsApp’s request to increase its user limit for digital payments through unified payments interface (UPI) by another 60 million users, thereby taking the total base to 100 million.
Earlier, in November 2020, NPCI had allowed WhatsApp to go live on UPI in the multi-bank model. At that point, WhatsApp was permitted to expand its UPI user base to 20 million. Thereafter, in November 2021, WhatsApp was allowed to double UPI users to 40 million.
The increase in WhatsApp Pay’s user base is likely to disrupt the current market leadership of leading UPI apps such as PhonePe and Google Pay. It comes at a time when Tata Digital has also made its debut on UPI and is expected to emerge as a significant player.
