Global technology giant WhatsApp is finally set to offer digital payment services in much-Indianised form. The company on Thursday unveiled the Indian rupee symbol in its chat composer to make sending payments using its platform easier for users in India.
The Rupee symbol rollout has begun and would soon be available to users all over India in the coming weeks. According to the company, with these latest updates, Payments on WhatsApp will become more inclusive and intuitive as users will now be able to send money using two of the most iconic and recognisable symbols, all within the WhatsApp chat composer.
“More than 80% of the consumer spending continues to be in cash. Two-third of India is still rural and will see benefits of digital innovations in the years to come. ‘Bharat’ needs simple solutions that remove the friction to learn ‘How to Pay’, an inclusive product that is simple, relatable, and easy to access for rural and urban users alike and a platform like WhatsApp that they can trust, to drive adoption,” Manesh Mahatme, Director (Payments), WhatsApp India, said in a statement.
WhatsApp has also announced that the camera icon in composer for users to scan any QR code will enable paying at more than 20 million stores in India. WhatsApp is working on another feature for payments called ‘Cashback’ for its Indian users. As the name suggests, users can receive cashback by using WhatsApp Payments after 48 hours, according to WABetaInfo.
The company also plans to introduce cashback to encourage its users to try WhatsApp Payments. As per the report, it is not yet clear if everyone will be able to get the cashback or only the users who have never sent a payment on WhatsApp will avail of the benefit. The company is going to clarify this when the feature will be made available.
