India is home to WhatsApp’s largest user base of over 500 million people. The government, on Tuesday, has removed restrictions on the app’s payments service, WhatsApp Payment, which is a major win for parent company Meta. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which oversees the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system, announced that WhatsApp can now expand its payments feature to all users in the country, lifting the previous cap of 100 million users. This was first reported by TechCrunch.
This decision represents a significant shift in regulatory policy, which had previously limited WhatsApp Payment’s rollout. Initially capped at 40 million users in 2020 and later extended to 100 million in 2022, the cautious approach by NPCI reflected concerns over market concentration in India’s booming digital payments sector.
India’s UPI platform processes over 13 billion transactions monthly, with Google Pay and PhonePe controlling more than 85 per cent of the market. WhatsApp’s expansion poses a direct challenge to these incumbents, bolstered by its massive user base and seamless integration with the messaging app.
The timing is particularly favourable for Meta, as the company recently introduced its generative AI product, Meta AI, which has also gained significant traction in India, further solidifying the country’s importance to Meta’s global strategy.
In addition to lifting restrictions on WhatsApp Payment, NPCI deferred a proposed rule to cap any single app’s UPI transaction share at 30 per cent until December 31, 2026. This extension gives WhatsApp more time to establish its foothold in the competitive fintech landscape.
The decision not only amplifies Meta’s financial services ambitions but also underscores India’s role as a critical growth market for the tech giant.