Compliance Is Key: WhatsApp’s UPI-Based Payment Service Launch In India Delayed Due To Localisation Norms

Facebook owned WhatsApp will now have to wait longer to plunge deeper into the Digital payments space in India, with the full scale commercial launch being delayed, reports Financial Express.

The BHIM UPI - compliant service that WhatsApp is willing to start, had begun its process three years ago in 2016. The instant messaging application is likely to meet the requirement of storing consumers payment data in India by June-July this year and then approach the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a fresh approval.

With more than 800 million transactions worth more than 1.33 lakh crore during March 2019, India offers a humongous market to Digital transactions. Currently, with close to a million users, WhatsApp Payments is running a pilot service. The payment service providers market in India is led by Google Pay, Paytm, PhonePe, BHIM app and Axis Pay.

Last month, the RBI, in an affidavit to the Supreme Court said that WhatsApp has not met the data localisation requirements.

RBI, through a circular on 6 April 2018 mandated all system providers to ensure that data relating to payment systems should be stored in India, which includes end-to-end transaction details, information collected, carried and processed as part of the message as well as payment instructions.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) which is the system provider of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has to ensure that the entire cache of the data related to the payment systems operated by such entities is stored in India.