UPI In Villages To New E-Commerce: WhatsApp¡¯s Future In India For 2022 And Beyond

WhatsApp has become this indispensable app that has truly taken over most Indian phone users' communication habits.

Every smartphone user prefers communication over WhatsApp compared to other platforms, and every passing update is making WhatsApp more user friendly, with more useful features than before.

Reuters

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Meta (formerly Facebook) -- WhatsApp¡¯s parent company today made three major announcements for Indian users of its texting app, as a part of its ¡®Fuel for India 2021¡¯ seminar, and how it's going to take the level of absorption in the Indian market to greater heights.

Digital Payments Utsav

While digital payments are slowly catching up in the metros of the nation, post the demonetisation, the same cannot be said for the lesser-urban parts of our nation. There are still several places where UPI isn¡¯t used and many still rely on ATMs and cash transactions, resulting in a rather cumbersome and unsafe experience.

To help in the adoption of digital payments in rural India, WhatsApp has announced its Digital Payments Utsav with an intention to help reach the next 500 million users join the digital payments ecosystem.

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WhatsApp

This initiative is an extension of the pilot project that commenced on October 15 in collaboration with 1Bridge where it helped residents of Kyathanahalli village in Mandya district, Karnataka, understand UPI as well as adopt the best practices while making the payment.

For this initiative, it is adopting 500 villages in Karnataka and Maharashtra to enable digital payments adoption.

To the unaware, WhatsApp allows users to send money to each other via an in-built UPI based payment feature that can be enabled by simply tapping on the rupee symbol on the chat screen.

Purchasing JioMart groceries using WhatsApp

Meta also announced WhatsApp¡¯s integration with Reliance¡¯s JioMart, where buyers won¡¯t need to install any other app to actually place an order. All they will need is their WhatsApp account and they¡¯ll be pretty much good to go.

The feature was revealed at the Fuel for India event by Ambani twins Akash and Isha, who also gave us a preview of what the experience could be like.

Buyers just need to send a Hi on the JioMart¡¯s number which would then show a list of products from which they could simply order products of their choice -- as simply as having a normal WhatsApp conversation.

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Once they've made their list, they could either pay using WhatsApp¡¯s UPI feature, cash on delivery or head to JioMart¡¯s payment gateway for other payment options. The feature is expected to roll out on WhatsApp in 2022.

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Mobile recharge through WhatsApp

Along with JioMart, the Ambani twins also revealed that users could now also recharge their Jio numbers via WhatsApp, by simply sending a Hi on WhatsApp on the Jio recharge handle and selecting the pack of their choice, followed by either making a payment via WhatsApp Payments or via Jio¡¯s own payment gateway.

In fact, users can also share a WhatsApp sticker to request recharging of their Jio number. This feature too is slated for 2022.

What do you think about the new WhatsApp features for Indian users? Tell us in the comments below and keep reading Indiatimes.com for the latest science and technology news.