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Pushing boundaries

Facebook tests the waters for a walled payments garden in India

WhatsApp’s newly launched payments feature in India is a joy to use. It is also a clear attempt to co-opt an open protocol. But are regulators realising this?

14/02/18

Arundhati Ramanathan

WhatsApp payments on iOS allows users to send payments only to users who have enabled payments

WhatsApp payments does not include a bunch of features that make up for key aspects of UPI

This could be Facebook's way of co-opting UPI

Just two days before Google Tez's launch NPCI brought in a circular that enabled only large companies to partner with multiple banks

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On 8 February, Facebook-owned WhatsApp quietly launched the much-anticipated feature in India—person to person payments. To almost universal rave reviews. (The Ken originally broke the news of this being in the works back in April 2017).

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