WhatsApp payments is close to its launch in India

Facebook is close to launching a payment gateway for the immensely popular WhatsApp application. The company recently wrapped up an audit on its data practices. Earlier, the launch of Whatsapp payments was delayed when the Government of India was concerned with the privacy and security concerns of the application.

The Government had reportedly asked the company to reveal its data practices to a third party auditor so it could ensure that all of WhatsApp’s payment related data would be stored on Indian servers only.

WhatsApp is now reportedly in the process of preparing a report to be submitted to the Reserve Bank of India. Facebook itself launched a similar feature in a beta stage last year. However there is no clarity on when the company will be able to completely launch the feature.

With the arrival of WhatsApp payments, the company is entering a space already crowded by many competitors. PayTM, Google Pay and Amazon Pay are just a few examples. However these payment gateways are already data localisation guidelines set by the RBI, so they have a complete Green Light to function.

It is also reported that the digital payments sector in the country is on its way to increase five times by the year 2023 and will also hit the figure of USD 1 trillion.

WhatsApp is likely to get a huge jump ahead of its competitors due to its already existing large user-base. India itself houses over 300 million users of the application, which is set to get higher in the coming years as more people get a smartphone.