WhatsApp thought about raid into digital payments with India launch

Instant messaging app WhatsApp, owned by Facebook Inc, is thought about raid into digital payments services in India, its first such offering globally, and has advertised to hire a digital transactions lead in the country.

A WhatsApp move into digital payments in India, its biggest market that is home to 200 million of its billion plus global users, would replicate similar moves by messaging apps like Tencent Holdings Ltd's WeChat in China.

WhatsApp is working to launch person-to-person payments in India in the next six months, news website The Ken reported earlier on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.

A job advertisement on WhatsApp's website said it was looking for a candidate with a technical and financial background - who understands India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and the BHIM payments app that enable money transfers and merchant payments using mobile numbers - to be its digital transactions lead for the country.

"India is an essential nation for WhatsApp, and we're seeing how we can contribute more to the vision of Digital India," a WhatsApp representative stated, alluding to a lead government program that means to help the utilization of Internet-based administrations in the nation.

"We're investigating how we may function with organizations that share this vision and proceeding to listen nearly to criticism from our clients," the representative stated, declining to expound encourage.

Advanced exchanges in India have surged after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's stun boycott of certain high-esteem certified receipts in November that represented more than 80 percent of the nation's cash available for use at the time.

In February, WhatsApp's prime supporter, Brian Acton, had told neighborhood media that the application was in early phases of exploring advanced installments in the nation and that he had conversed with the Indian government about the matter.
Simply a week ago, Swedish correspondences application Truecaller, which has an expansive client base in India, began a versatile installment benefit in the nation in view of the UPI stage.
Facebook’s WhatsApp would challenge local players including PayTM, which is supported by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.