{"id":25925,"date":"2017-04-04T08:06:16","date_gmt":"2017-04-04T08:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=25925"},"modified":"2017-04-04T08:06:16","modified_gmt":"2017-04-04T08:06:16","slug":"whatsapp-mulls-foray-digital-payments-india-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/technology\/whatsapp-mulls-foray-digital-payments-india-launch.html","title":{"rendered":"WhatsApp mulls foray into digital payments with India launch"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:22px;\"><strong><span style=\"color:#000000;\"><span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">WhatsApp mulls foray into digital payments with India launch<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n\t<span style=\"color:#000000;\"><span style=\"font-size:18px;\"><span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">WhatsApp mulls foray into digital payments with India launch:- Instant messaging app WhatsApp, owned by Facebook Inc, is mulling a foray into digital payment services in India, its first such offering globally, and has advertised to hire a digital transactions lead in the country.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n\t<span style=\"color:#000000;\"><span style=\"font-size:18px;\"><span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">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&#39;s WeChat in China.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n\t<span style=\"color:#000000;\"><span style=\"font-size:18px;\"><span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">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.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n\t<span style=\"color:#000000;\"><span style=\"font-size:18px;\"><span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">A job advertisement on WhatsApp&#39;s website said it was looking for a candidate with a technical and financial background &#8211; who understands India&#39;s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and the BHIM payments app that enable money transfers and merchant payments using mobile numbers &#8211; to be its digital transactions lead for the country. (bit.ly\/2oTyOnn)<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n\t<span style=\"color:#000000;\"><span style=\"font-size:18px;\"><span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">&quot;India is an important country for WhatsApp, and we&#39;re understanding how we can contribute more to the vision of Digital India,&quot; a WhatsApp spokesman said, referring to a flagship government program that aims to boost the use of Internet-based services in the country.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n\t<span style=\"color:#000000;\"><span style=\"font-size:18px;\"><span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">&quot;We&#39;re exploring how we might work with companies that share this vision and continuing to listen closely to feedback from our users,&quot; the spokesman said, declining to elaborate further.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n\t<span style=\"color:#000000;\"><span style=\"font-size:18px;\"><span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">Digital transactions in India have surged after Prime Minister Narendra Modi&#39;s shock ban of certain high-value bank notes in November that accounted for more than 80 percent of the country&#39;s currency in circulation at the time.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n\t<span style=\"color:#000000;\"><span style=\"font-size:18px;\"><span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">In February, WhatsApp&#39;s co-founder, Brian Acton, had told local media that the app was in early stages of investigating digital payments in the country and that he had talked to the Indian government about the matter.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n\t<span style=\"color:#000000;\"><span style=\"font-size:18px;\"><span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">Just last week, Swedish communications app Truecaller, which has a large user base in India, started a mobile payment service in the country based on the UPI platform.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n\t<span style=\"font-size:8px;\"><span style=\"color:#000000;\"><span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\">Source:-&nbsp;http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-india-facebook-whatsapp-idUSKBN1760JW<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"fb-background-color\">\n\t\t\t  <div \n\t\t\t  \tclass = \"fb-comments\" \n\t\t\t  \tdata-href = \"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/technology\/whatsapp-mulls-foray-digital-payments-india-launch.html\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-numposts = \"10\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-lazy = \"true\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-colorscheme = \"light\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-order-by = \"social\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-mobile=true>\n\t\t\t  <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t  <style>\n\t\t    .fb-background-color {\n\t\t\t\tbackground: #ffffff !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t.fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe {\n\t\t\t    width: 630px !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t  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