The formal launch of WhatsApp payments service is likely to face yet another delay owing to parent company Facebook examining data privacy concerns. It is addressing concerns on how it will store and share user data in line with the RBI’s mandate of storing data in India, according to a report in The Economic Times.
The messaging app is testing its digital payment service on a pilot basis before launching it on a bigger scale for every active user in India. Expected to be one of the biggest disruptions in the digital payments space, the service was to go live for all users by the end of March this year. However, the plan got a setback in the wake of data breach issue at Facebook.
The Reserve Bank of India on April 5 had said that all payment system operators will have to ensure that data related to payments is stored only in India and firms would have six months to comply with it.
Now, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has restricted the testing of the digital payment service to a sample of 1 million users or 1 percent of WhatsApp’s total user base, whichever is lower, said the publication citing its sources.
At present, WhatsApp currently has over 200 million active monthly users in India. Out of this, around 700,000 users have tried its payment service.
So far, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank have completed the technical integration with WhatsApp Pay. SBI is also expected to join within a few weeks of the formal launch.
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