HIGHLIGHTS
- WhatsApp Payments was launched in 2020.
- In India, WhatsApp competes with Google Pay, Paytm, and PhonePe.
- In November of last year, the payment service had 40 million customers.
According to two persons familiar with the subject, Meta Platforms' WhatsApp has received regulatory clearance to more than quadruple the number of users of its payments service in India to 100 million.
WhatsApp has repeatedly reminded the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) that there should be no limit on the number of people who may use its payments service in India, its largest market.
Instead, the NPCI informed the corporation on Wednesday that it can grow the number of subscribers to 100 million from the existing 40 million, according to the sources.
WhatsApp did not reply quickly to a request for comment. In a statement to Reuters, the NPCI acknowledged the development.
Though the easing would be welcomed, the new ceiling may still limit WhatsApp's development potential in India, where it has more than 500 million users.
WhatsApp has told the NPCI several times that it wants to operate "without a cap," but one of the sources believes that allowing all of its users to access the payments service - integrated with the app and allowing contacts to send funds to each other - could strain the country's financial infrastructure.
After years of attempting to comply with Indian rules, including data storage standards that require all payments-related data to be held locally, the NPCI granted WhatsApp permission to operate the payments service in 2020.
It began with 20 million users and was raised to 40 million in November of last year.
In India's crowded digital market, WhatsApp competes with Alphabet's Google Pay, SoftBank and Ant Group-backed Paytm, and Walmart's PhonePe.
Online transactions, loans, and e-wallet services have been fast expanding in India, thanks to a government drive to convert the country's cash-loving merchants and customers to digital payments.
