Back in April this year, WhatsApp has invited applications for the role of Digital Transactions Lead in India. The Facebook owned company is trying to take advantage of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) which was launched by the Government of India in order to make the hassle-free digital payments. While the company is rumored to bring the built-in payment feature in the next couple of weeks, the latest beta version (2.17.285) of WhatsApp for Android has a hidden page for the payment feature. Since it is a hidden feature, even the beta users can’t access the payment page.
The screenshot of the WhatsApp’s payment page suggests the option to allow the bank to bank transfers using the UPI service. To use the WhatsApp Payments, the user has to accept the WhatsApp Payments terms and privacy policy along with Bank’s terms and privacy policy. As the UPI works on IMPS protocol, the transactions will be immediately reflected in the receiver’s account. Last month, WeChat also added the ‘Quick Pay’ option in their app to make payments to the vendors. However, the app is not yet accepting the card from Indian banks.
The Indian Unicorn, Hike is the first instant messaging app to bring the payments option. But looking the WhatsApp users base in India, the company might revolutionize the digital payments. On the other hand, PayTM is rumored to bring the Chat option to complete the other messaging apps. Alibaba, the biggest investor in Paytm, has been facing fierce competition from Tencent’s WeChat in China. But it is leaving no stones unturned to make PayTM the WeChat for India. Talking about WhatsApp’s payment, it is still under development and might take few more weeks to launch.
While the payment option will be initially limited to India, the company hasn’t mentioned about expanding the payment feature to other markets. As announced earlier, WhatsApp will soon bring a new app for businesses to communicate with their customers. If you think, the businesses will spam you; there will also be an option to opt out of this feature. The secondary app is said to be called as Small and Medium Business and will be available for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone platforms. Unlike the business accounts, the user can use the same old WhatsApp to contact the businesses.
The company will also bring the structured messages that contain text, image, action items, and the translation of the message. The business accounts will also be verified by WhatsApp, and the users will see a green badge next to the name. Since most of the WhatsApp users in India will be using entry-level devices, we hope the upcoming features will not make the app bulky with cluttered options. Stay tuned on Phone Radar for more details about the upcoming WhatsApp features.
Source:PhoneRadar
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