WhatsApp May Soon Allow India Users To Pay Bills, Recharge Mobile Numbers

WhatsApp appears to be working on expanding its payment functionality to offer bill payments, mobile phone recharges, and rent payments in India. The Meta-owned app currently allows peer-to-peer and peer-to-merchant payments through Unified Payments Interface (UPI), but the ability to pay utility bills and top up mobile plan could allow WhatsApp to expand into India’s digital payments market and finally leverage its base of over 500 million users.

What would WhatsApp Pay offer?

A teardown of the APK file of WhatsApp’s beta version 2.25.3.15 by folks at Android Authority has revealed the app will have a dedicated section for bill payments. A screenshot of the ‘Bill Payment’ section in the report appears empty for now. However, categories such as electricity bills, mobile prepaid recharge, LPG gas bookings and payments, water bills, landline bills, postpaid bills, and rent payments may be added closer to the launch of the feature.

Will it be different from the existing ones?

All of the upcoming services will likely be based on UPI, excluding credit card options for users. On the other hand, existing digital payment services, such as Paytm, PhonePe, Amazon Pay, and Google Pay, support different payment modes for utility bills and recharges. The report said WhatsApp may add more categories in future.

WhatsApp's future plans in India's digital payments market

Last month, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) removed the cap on user onboarding for WhatsApp Pay. With the restriction now lifted, WhatsApp can offer its payment service to the full customer base, bolstering its position in India’s crowded digital payments market, led by Walmart’s PhonePe and GPay.

Since WhatsApp has not officially said anything about the upcoming bill payments feature, its launch timeline is unclear. However, beta testers may have access to it only after WhatsApp receives the necessary regulatory approvals. A wider release may happen later.