PhonePe, Tez, PayTm, and Amazon Pay will have another big name joining them in the online payment service. According to reports, Facebook is planning on a new payment service through its Messenger App in India, after it launched the WhatsApp payment system in the country last year.
Facebook is tapping more into India, especially after 10% of Facebook’s users are Indians. They felt that the country has more potential than China, with its internet legislation. India on the other hand is a better choice for media giants to launch online payment gateways especially after the Indian government launched the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) in which developers can build their own applications freely. Facebook like other tech companies like Google and Amazon sensed the opportunity layed down for them and are planning to enter this space.
Messenger payments are previously supported in countries like UK, US, and France. Facebook is planning to do the same in a big market like India, by initially testing the user ability for top ups and pre-paid mobile credit or recharge and later extending it to peer to peer payments and money transfers and then for online purchase via Marketplace.
Other than making use of UPI, Facebook has already made some new recruitments including hiring Sunali Rohra from Visa, who will build partnership between the government and other private organisations to make Facebook’s payment gateway steady in India.
Report – Rabeeha Abdurehim
