As WhatsApp launches payments service, Paytm and Phone Pe get ready for war

For most of the payments apps, it is time for pay back, given the investments incurred in on-boarding customers and building their networks

When WhatsApp launches payments, it is difficult to imagine any mobile payments players will survive, said Bhavin Turakhia, billionaire, serial entrepreneur and a poster boy for the start-up industry in the country. Currently heading fin-tech start-up Zeta, Turakhia was speaking at a Matrix Partners-organised meet-up in Bengaluru (June 27), along with Kunal Shah, founder, Cred, who sold Freecharge to Axis Bank back in 2017. “Just look at the experience,” Turakhia said to the crowd, some of whom were using the beta version that allowed people to send money from within the chat-app, “would anyone use any other app?” Shah was