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News
- WhatsApp is seeking regulatory clearance from the RBI to launch full-fledged payment operations in India.
Important facts:
Payment service provider
- Payment service providers (PSPs) connect merchants to the electronic financial system so they can accept credit and debit card payments.
- They act on behalf of merchants and are paid by merchants for their services.
- The payment methods that PSPs accepts are: direct debit, credit card, bank transfer, and real-time bank transfer.
- WhatsApp is currently piloting WhatsApp payments, and it has now written to the RBI urging that a formal approval be granted to take the payments product to all its users in the country.
- The WhatsApp In-Chat Payment feature will allow users to make payments to anyone from their WhatsApp contact list.
- The new option will enable WhatsApp users to both send and receive money.
- The social media messaging application has tied up with some of the largest banks in the country to make this service available to consumers.
- The payment system will work on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) method, where fund transfers can be initiated without having to provide bank account number and IFSC code.
- The UPI interface allows customers to make instant fund transfers through a virtual address, also known as, Virtual Payment Address (VPA). The fund transfer process is fast, easy and can be done on a 24/7 basis on all 365 days in a year.
- Features and Benefits of WhatsApp In-Chat Payment
- 24X7 service- Make payment to anyone on WhatsApp contact list from anywhere and at anytime
- User-friendly ‘pay’ feature– It makes transferring funds as simple as sending a photo or a message
- The payee/beneficiary will receive a payment notification on their chat window once the fund transfer has been made
- Transfer through virtual address- There is no need to ask the payee for account details such as account number or IFSC code. All you need is a virtual address to make payment
Unified Payment Interface (UPI)
- UPI is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank), merging several banking features, seamless fund routing & merchant payments into one hood
- It also caters to the “Peer to Peer” collect request which can be scheduled and paid as per requirement and convenience
Benefit for end customers
- Round the clock availability
- Single application for accessing different bank accounts
- Use of virtual id is more secure no credential sharing
- Single click authentication
- Raise complaint from mobile app directly
Benefits for merchants
- Seamless fund collection from customer- single identifiers
- No risk of storing customer’s virtual address like in cards
- Tap customers not having credit/debit cards
- Suitable for e-com & m-com transaction
- Resolve the COD collection problems
- Single click 2FA facility to the customers seamless pull
- In App payment (IAP)
