The proposed payments service has languished in regulatory and legal limbo. This is the story of why.
“Two-plus years of beta is unheard of. Either allow them or kill them, what is the point of keeping them in limbo for so long? Only infrastructure projects can last that long, like a bridge getting built forever. But here you are talking about technology.”
This, from a senior banker, sums up the state of WhatsApp Payments in India.
When, in February 2018, the world’s most popular messaging app announced the beta launch of a payments service built on the Unified Payments Interface—the National Payments Corporation of India’s game-changing digital payments platform—little did it know that it was in for …
Arti is a former writer at The Morning Context. She previously worked with publications such as ET Prime, VCCircle, Firstpost and EETimes. Arti has keenly tracked the evolution of financial technology in India and written some of the defining pieces on the ecosystem as it birthed and matured. Even when not writing about it, she loves to dissect the revenue models, margins and regulations that are shaping the sector.
artisingh@mailtmc.com