WhatsApp expands in-app payment options for e-commerce users

Credit card payments on WhatsApp: Meta’s instant messaging platform WhatsApp on Wednesday said that it is enabling credit card payments, as well as services from rival digital payment providers within the app, according to a report by Reuters. Notably, till now, users who used WhatsApp to shop have the option to pay using third-party payment apps such as Alphabet’s Google Pay, Paytm, and Walmart’s PhonePe, but for this, they are redirected outside WhatsApp and to the respective payment providers’ apps. The messaging app has more than 50 crore users in India. However, the Indian regulators have currently capped WhatsApp's in-app service to only 10 crore people. 

WhatsApp has said that payments via those rival services, and any others that run on Unified Payments Interface (UPI), are now possible within WhatsApp, according to a blog post by Meta. It also stated that new in-app options for credit and debit cards will also be offered.

These changes will enhance Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's plan to make business messaging the "next major pillar" of the company's sales growth, an agenda that has assumed greater urgency as Meta's core ads business and metaverse project have come under pressure.

Even though WhatsApp Pay users will remain capped in India, the country's regulator has not mandated any such limit on the number of users permitted to transact with businesses on WhatsApp using the other methods, a Meta spokesperson was cited as saying by media reports.

India now sees over 1,000 crore UPI transactions per month. These new updates could serve as a lure to attract businesses to pay Meta for access to WhatsApp users. WhatApp currently provides end-to-end shopping experiences in India to pilot programmes like that with online grocery service JioMart, and the metro systems in the cities of Chennai and Bangaluru.

As per Meta's blog post, the new payment tools will be available to any company in India that uses WhatsApp's business platform, which mainly serves large companies.

In a separate blog post, Meta said that the company is expanding its Meta Verified subscription programme to businesses globally, giving companies a mechanism to validate authenticity and elevate their content in users' feeds. According to the blog post, monthly subscriptions will be available on Instagram and Facebook in a handful of countries to start and will expand to WhatsApp at a later date, costing $21.99 per Facebook page or Instagram account or $34.99 for both.