The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), yesterday, gave permission to the messaging giant 'WhatsApp' to start its payment service in the country. WhatsApp has 400 million users in India. After the approval from NPCI, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed that no fee will be charged for sending money via WhatsApp Pay. The CEO also said that this mode will be supported by more than 140 banks. WhatsApp Pay: 5 Things to Know About WhatsApp's In-Chat Payment Feature to Send & Receive Money, Check Details.

Zuckerberg also said that all a user needs is to have a debit card with a bank that supports UPI & to set it up by updating the latest WhatsApp version.

WhatsApp Pay has been built using India's Unified Payments Interface that allows everyone to accept & make payments across different apps instantly. WhatsApp has been working on this with the NPCI who are in-charge of everything to make sure it's reliable & safe. WhatsApp Pay will be available in 10 Indian regional language versions of WhatsApp.

Zuckerberg reportedly said in statement, "When people can access financial tools, they’re more empowered to support themselves and others, or start a business. Long term, we need more innovation that gives people control over their money, and making payments easier is a small step that can really help".

It will be interesting to watch where will WhatsApp Pay stand as we already have plenty of digital and online platforms. It will be competing with UPI apps like Google Pay, Paytm, BHIM, PhonePe & Paypal.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 06, 2020 02:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).