WhatsApp has finally started introducing its long-awaited payments feature. WhatsApp has introduced this feature for the first time in Brazil where users will be able to pay for remittances and purchases without leaving the app.
Payments will be made via Facebook Pay, meaning users will be able to use secure details to purchase items in the Facebook Marketplace and send money to friends via Messenger.
At the launch, the feature will work with cards issued by 3 Brazilian banks, and each transaction will be done with a 6-digit PIN or fingerprint scan.
Ordinary consumers do not have to pay any fees for remittances or purchases.
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Facebook has been working on WhatsApp payments since 2017.
The trial began in 2018 in India, where WhatsApp has the largest number of users, but so far it has not been formally introduced there and government laws have caused problems.
But now the feature has finally been introduced and the company says it will be available to all users in the future.
WhatsApp is also working on a plan to lend to consumers in India.
In April, the company filed a regulatory request stating that it would like to lend money to its customers and others with or without security as a loan or advance.
However, Indian law prohibits the company from conducting any type of banking business and for this project it has to partner with a bank.
WhatsApp launched the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) trial in 2018 on 1 million users in India.
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However, the plan has not yet been activated due to various regulatory restrictions and the company wanted to introduce this payment feature late last year, but failed to get approval from the management.
Ajit Mohan, Facebook’s head of India, said in an interview in April that there were still 1 million WhatsApp payment users.
WhatsApp has 400 million users in India and can surpass other companies like PTM, iPhone P and Google Tej in terms of digital payments.
It is estimated that the Indian digital payments industry could reach 1 trillion by 2023.