WhatsApp Said to Soon Offer Cashback Rewards to UPI Users in India

WhatsApp will inside weeks roll out cashback rewards to lure extra Indians to its peer-to-peer funds service and is testing comparable incentives for service provider funds, two sources stated, as the corporate seeks to compete with rivals together with Google.

The newest transfer comes days after WhatsApp received regulatory approval to greater than double its funds providing to 100 million customers in India, its largest market with greater than half a billion customers general.

WhatsApp will earlier than the top of May launch the cashback provide of as much as Rs. 33 for transfers customers make on its funds service, which permits contacts to ship one another funds from throughout the messenger app, stated the sources, who’ve direct data of the corporate’s plans.

The incentive, unfold over three transactions, will likely be given regardless of the quantity being transferred, even whether it is as little as Rs. 1, in what one supply described as WhatsApp’s “user acquisition drive.”

The WhatsApp cashback quantity could seem small, however Neil Shah, vice chairman of analysis at Counterpoint Research, stated it will be a “compelling enough” motive for customers to modify.

“You won’t leave money on the table as an Indian,” Shah stated.

In a press release responding to a query from Reuters, WhatsApp stated it’s “running a campaign offering cashback incentives in a phased manner to our users as a way to unlock the potential of payments on WhatsApp.”

Separately, in a broader funds push, WhatsApp is testing a programme the place it should dole out cashback incentives for customers who pay freeway tolls and utility and different payments straight from the app, the 2 sources stated.

WhatsApp additionally desires to check such incentives for these making cellular funds for Reliance Jio, India’s largest telecom operator, the sources stated. Reliance is a accomplice of WhatsApp whose father or mother Meta Platforms Inc in 2020 invested $5.7 billion (roughly Rs. 43,640 crore) within the Indian agency’s digital arm.

WhatsApp didn’t touch upon these plans, whereas Reliance did not reply to a request for remark.

The cashback push comes after WhatsApp in June 2021 carried out an inside research to evaluate competitors in India. Seen by Reuters, the “Winning from behind on India payments,” research says “incentives are among the top sign up reasons for our competitor apps” in India.

WhatsApp additionally assessed it must transcend peer-to-peer funds as customers use rival apps to make service provider and invoice funds which, the research said, will likely be a “more attractive proposition (for users) to switch over” to WhatsApp.

WhatsApp competes with Alphabet-owned Google Pay, Ant Group-backed Paytm and Walmart’s PhonePe in India’s crowded digital funds market.

WhatsApp’s development has been hamstrung as India has for months capped the variety of customers to which it might probably provide its funds service on fears that opening it to all its customers may pressure the nation’s monetary infrastructure, Reuters has reported.

© Thomson Reuters 2022