We can now transfer money to anyone, anytime and anywhere by making electronic payments. E-wallets are directly linked to our bank accounts to make these payments. There has been a boom of e-wallets since a few years now. E-wallets like Paytm, Tez, BHIM, etc have sorted our lives to the core and now Facebook is in the race too!
The facebook owned app- Whatsapp, which is was launched as a messenger initially, will now have a UPI based wallet. This wallet is reported to be in its testing phase for now and will be launched as a beta version in November, followed by an official roll out in December. Whatsapp keeps on getting updated; introducing us with its new features every then and now, but this would be the biggest one till now. It might give a very tough competition to the existing e-wallets in India, as this feature will be only introduced in India first.
This payment system will be an in-chat payment system. Reportedly, Whatsapp has partnered with the following three banks, i.e HDFC, SBI and ICICI Bank. Whatsapp’s payments feature will be UPI based. People will have to link their bank accounts to the Whatsapp e-wallet. Users will now be able to transfer money to people existing in their contact lists. The contact number associated with Whatsapp should be the same as the contact number which is linked to their bank accounts associated with Whatsapp. Whatsapp’s payment feature will be shown in the attachments section with the symbol of INR.
I believe WhatsApp will now be seen at the top in the list of e-wallets in India, because of its current user base in India which is above 200 million.
But, what about the people who don’t use WhatsApp? Will they be allowed to use only the Wallet? Or will the people be able to build trust? Will they switch from a renowned e-wallet like Paytm to WhatsApp? Will it be secure enough?
What do YOU think?
