WhatsApp announced the launch of a prepaid mobile charge service in India in collaboration with PayU, a financial technology company, which allows users to charge mobile phone numbers directly to major operators, including Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea, in the WhatsApp application. This will be available to all WhatsApp users in India within the next two weeks.
Despite the introduction of the payment function in India as early as 2020 and the presence of more than 500 million users in India, whatsApp remains marginalized in the government-supported UPI-driven digital payment field in India. According to the latest statistics of the Indian National Payments Corporation, in March, the number of transactions processed by the WhatsApp was over 130 million, far behind competitors such as PhonePe (over 10.5 billion transactions) and Google Pay (over 7.5 billion transactions) under the Wal-Mart flag. This gap remains even if the Indian State Payment Corporation removed the user registration restrictions for the WhitsApp Pay at the end of 2024 and allowed payment services to be extended to the entire user community after several years of phased expansion in India. However, with the removal of the user registration restrictions, the use of the WhatsApp payment has recovered since early 2025. According to data from the Indian State Payments Company, the number of UPI transactions in the WhatsApp has more than doubled from about 63 million in January 2025. During the same period, Wal-Mart PhonePe and Google Pay increased by about 30 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively, and continue to account for most of the UPI transactions.
This collaboration with PayU is part of a broader effort to scale up payments and services in India. Indian users can pay bills through chat-based interfaces, book subway tickets and visit a range of government services, and WhatsApp hopes this will increase user participation beyond instant messaging. WhatsApp also introduced a rupee (₹) icon on its main screen, making it easier for users to access the payment function, as well as mobile phone recharge and point-to-point transfer. According to Ravi Gary, Director General of Business Information of India, Meta, the purpose of the update was to simplify day-to-day transactions within the WhatsApp and the company ‘ s aim was to bring more practical functionality to this instant communication application.
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