WhatsApp UPI: NPCI removes user onboarding restriction limits, company aims to hike user base

India's digital payments regulator, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has removed its earlier onboarding limit for WhatsApp Pay, a third-party payments app provider, reported the news portal the Economic Times on Tuesday, December 31.

WhatsApp Pay can now extend UPI services to its entire user base in India without any restrictions, as per the news report. 

The NPCI earlier allowed the platform to expand its UPI user base in a phased manner. Now, even with the removal of the limit, the WhatsApp Pay service will continue to comply with all existing UPI guidelines and circulars to existing TPAPs, as per the news report.

“The removal of the UPI onboarding limit for WhatsApp Pay not only makes UPI payments more accessible and convenient for a wider audience but also positions WhatsApp as a major player in India's digital payments ecosystem,” said Mohan K, Founder of TechFini, quoted the news portal.

“Also as WhatsApp has a massive user base in India, the removal of this limit can lead to smoother and more widespread adoption of UPI for daily transactions, like sending money, paying bills, and making online purchases, directly within the app,” said Mohan K. 

10 Key things to keep in mind using WhatsApp Pay:

1. Make sure you have the latest version of WhatsApp on your Android or iOS phone.

2. It is necessary to have a bank account and active debit card in India.

3. When you use UPI payments on WhatsApp, other UPI users can view the name on your bank account, as per the website guidelines. This requirement is set by NPCI and designed to mitigate fraud across the UPI payments system.

4. WhatsApp uses the phone number associated with the users' bank account to identify the same through UPI. 

5. While users' personal messages on WhatsApp are always end-to-end encrypted, the payment descriptions one adds to the transactions are not.

6. When the payment request is successfully sent, it'll be listed under Pending. To use payments, make sure you're using the latest version of WhatsApp.

7. When you pay through a UPI ID or number or scan a QR code, any payment descriptions you add aren't encrypted end-to-end.

8. When you make a payment in a chat, any payment messages you add are end-to-end encrypted.

9. These text messages won’t show up on your bank statement.

10. To protect your security, WhatsApp doesn’t store your UPI PIN or full bank account number, as per the official website data cited the news portal.