WhatsApp steps out on front foot to push payments feature

The company said that it has launched a pilot programme of adopting 500 villages to familiarise villagers with digital payments

The gloves may be finally coming off WhatsApp’s payments ambitions.

On Wednesday, the company said that it has launched a pilot programme of adopting 500 villages across Karnataka and Maharashtra to familiarise villagers with digital payments through its in-built united payments interface (UPI) feature.

In a video shared by the company, village shopkeepers can be seen asking customers to pay through a WhatsApp QR code, similar to merchant QR codes offered by fintech players like BharatPe and Paytm.

“This adoption drive is like a surrogate marketing activity as WhatsApp is trying to educate the population through small value transactions and remittances. Based