Why WhatsApp Payments failed to click in India

Facebookowned WhatsApp which kicked off its ambitious peertopeer P2P digital payments pilot project in India in 2018 with nearly 10 lakh users has failed to make it a success ever after more than three years of its inception as the transaction value of Unified Payments Interface UPI payments continues to break all records in the countryIn the month of September 365 billion transactions worth Rs 654351 crore were recorded Major UPI players in India currently are PhonePe IPObound Paytm and Google Pay PhonePe continues to dominate transactions almost half the market size at 47 per cent followed by Google Pay at 35 per centThe current figures are dismal for the Mark Zuckerbergrun platform The late entrant WhatsApp currently has a mere 001 per cent share of the UPI payments volume according to the latest NPCI dataAfter facing regulatory roadblocks and data compliance issues with the Reserve Bank of India RBI for more than two years WhatsApp finally went live with the UPI payment service in India in November last year after receiving a nod from the National Payments Corporation of India NPCIThe Facebookowned messaging service had received approval from the NPCI to take UPI live in a phased mannerWhatsApp Payments is still restricted to the cap of some 2 crore users in the country the growth has stalled and numbers evidently paint a sorry pictureWhat has failed WhatsApp which has more than 40 crore users in India to fasttrack its payments feature in a country dominated by the likes of Paytm PhonePe and Google PayIndustry experts feel it is a mixed bag led by the heated political debate on the security of key financial data latest Facebook datasharing row insufficient messaging for its users and uncertainties over the regulation landscapeWhatsApp Payments needs to be seen with microscopic eye primarily because in payment you will be dealing with sensitive personal data and cyber security is going to be an essential building block component for WhatsApp to demonstrate its due diligence Pavan Duggal one of the nations top cyber law experts told IANSPrabhu Ram Head Industry Intelligence Group IIG CyberMedia Research CMR said that for India WhatsApp has been the de facto messaging app of choice for long nowLeveraging WhatsApps reach and scale in other spheres such as mobile payments would seem an easy and natural step forward for the platform However WhatsApps strong brand resonance around messaging is hindering WhatsApps uptick in payments Ram told IANSA case against WhatsApp Payments is still pending in the Supreme Court for compliance of data localisation as per the RBIs April 2018 circular The Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change CASC had taken WhatsApp to the courtThe data protection debate has reached its nadir in India in the last couple of months and the government the RBI and the NPCI are constantly evaluating the risk of allowing social media apps into the digital payment ecosystemIn such trust deficit times it is all the more difficult for WhatsApp to cement its position in the digital payments spaceWhatsApp on Thursday unveiled the Indian rupee symbol in its chat composer to make sending payments using its platform easier for users in IndiaAccording to the company with these latest updates Payments on WhatsApp will become more inclusive and intuitiveBharat needs simple solutions that remove the friction to learn How to Pay an inclusive product that is simple relatable and easy to access for rural and urban users alike and a platform like WhatsApp that they can trust to drive adoption said Manesh Mahatme Director Payments WhatsApp India during the Global FinTech Festival GFF 2021He said that the company is scaling up in a phased manner right now and we are partnering with the NPCI to work through this scaleThe platform is also reportedly working on a feature for payments called cashback for its Indian users The users will be able to receive cashback by using WhatsApp Payments after 48 hoursHowever the road to success is still too far for WhatsApp Payments in a country that is fast growing in digital transactionsTo succeed in a hypercompetitive digital economy WhatsApp would need to invest in understanding evolving consumer perceptions and leverage that for creating user awareness and understanding around new WhatsApp use cases said PrabhuThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliabilitsy and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever