In early November, Facebook-owned WhatsApp and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) announced that WhatsApp will start operating UPI payments service. According to a blog post by WhatsApp, “WhatsApp designed our payments feature in partnership with NPCI using the Unified Payment Interface (UPI), an India-first, real-time payment system that enables transactions with over 160 supported banks.”
NPCI’s statement issued on November 5, 2020 said, “WhatsApp can expand its UPI user base in a graded manner starting with a maximum registered user base of 20 million in UPI.’
Here is a look at how you can set up a WhatsApp Pay account to send and receive money via UPI.
Before you get started, do make sure that you have the latest version of WhatsApp on your Android or iOS phone. Also, according to the WhatsApp blog post, “To send money on WhatsApp in India, it’s necessary to have a bank account and active debit card in India. WhatsApp sends instructions to banks, also known as payment service providers, that initiate the transfer of money via UPI between sender and receiver bank accounts.”
Read on to find out how you can set up a WhatsApp Pay account on your phone.
How to set up account
Step 1: For Android devices, open WhatsApp and click on the three dots appearing on the top right-hand side of the app. For iOS, click on the ‘Settings’ option on the bottom right-hand corner.
Step 2: Select the ‘Payments’ option. Select ‘Add Payment Method’. You will be asked to accept the WhatsApp Payment policies. Click on ‘Accept and Continue’.
Step 3: You will get the list of banks; select the bank from which you wish to make the payments. Further, if you have two bank accounts with one bank, select the bank account, with which you want to make the payments.
While selecting the bank, ensure that the WhatsApp mobile number is the same one linked to your savings bank account. This is because an SMS will be sent on this number for verification purpose.
Step 4: Once the verification is completed, you will be required to set up a UPI PIN for making future payments.
How to send money via WhatsApp
Step 1: From your WhatsApp contact list, select the contact to whom you want to transfer money to. Open the chat option and then select the payment option. If the contact you have selected is not using the WhatsApp payment option, you can transfer the money using the person’s UPI ID of another platform say Google Pay, PhonePe etc. You will get a pop-up informing you that the contact is not using the WhatsApp payment mechanism, after which you can select the ‘Send to UPI ID’ option.
You can also transfer money using the Scan QR Code option.
Step 2: Enter the amount and your UPI PIN. Once the correct PIN is entered, the amount will be transferred to the receiver’s bank account.
Receiving money
If the sender has WhatsApp Pay: If the sender is transferring money to you via WhatsApp Pay, then all he/she has to do is follow the instructions above to transfer the money.
If the sender does not have WhatsApp Pay: If the sender does not have WhatsApp Pay, you can still receive money. You will be required to share your WhatsApp Pay UPI ID to the sender. The sender will enter your WhatsApp Pay UPI ID in the payment platform such as Google Pay, PhonePe Etc. to send you the money. WhatsApp Pay will inform you that you have received money.