WhatsApp empowers 500 villages in India with access to digital payments
Hindustan TimesInstant messaging platform WhatsApp announced on Wednesday the ‘Digital Payments Utsav’, its pilot program of empowering 500 villages across Karnataka and Maharashtra with access to digital payments through ‘payments on WhatsApp’. We have started this pilot programme in 500 villages across Karnataka and Maharashtra as part of our mission to take on board the next 500 million into the digital payments ecosystem.” He said that WhatsApp’s “ease of use and reliability” can promote the adoption of UPI with users across the society, “including those at the bottom of the pyramid.” “We will continue to contribute meaningfully in this journey of educating users at the grassroots, so they can trust digital payments, as they gradually make the transition from a ‘cash-only’ way of financial life,” said Bose. “The village-grocery store or the beauty-parlor owner and scores of other people and small and medium businesses are now accepting and receiving payments digitally using ‘payments on WhatsApp’” the company said in a statement. So when new customers want to pay digitally, I give them my son’s WhatsApp QR code.” WhatsApp has also recently placed the iconic ₹ symbol in its chat, thus making it recognisable and easy for people across segments to use the digital payments feature.