Facebook-owned WhatsApp’s in-app payments feature is in the final beta-testing phase. As the feature is all set for a full-fledged roll-out, the parent company Facebook seems to be following in the same footsteps. World’s largest social networking service is looking to move into the digital payments space in India.
Recently India outnumbered the US to become the country with the highest number of users on Facebook. The massive Indian market has been a top favourite for internet companies from around the world due to its diversity and huge user base.
Facebook is the latest one to join the list of companies with digital payments solutions, which already has big names like Google and Amazon.
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Will Be Different From WhatsApp Payments
The company has been quietly working on the payments platform for India. Facebook launched its payments feature in the US last year. Though Facebook-owned WhatsApp is working on a similar payments feature, it will be different from Facebook’s payments option.
The WhatsApp Payments allow transactions to happen between peer-to-peer and peer-to-merchants, whereas the Facebook will have options for you to pay for other amenities as well.
Beta Trial For Facebook Payments
Facebook is already testing a beta feature of recharge payments for the prepaid mobile services. The option is now available on its chat platform Messenger. Starting with recharges the company will soon foray into other segments of digital commercial payments.
The company is targeting to prepare a common platform for buyers and sellers to fulfil commercial transactions. The payments feature will soon be available in both, Facebook Marketplace and Facebook Messenger.
Facebook’s Payments Ecosystem?
The payments feature will help users to transact on Facebook Marketplace and make payments through Messenger. One can use it to buy and sell products within Facebook Marketplace, while it can be used on Messenger to make other online commercial payments.
Facebook is trying to build an ecosystem where users can buy, sell and make payments without leaving the app.
Digital payments in India have seen a massive growth in the last couple of years, where it has grown annually at a rate of 97 percent. Mobile wallet has been largest category within PPIs. Today India has Paytm, Google Tez, Amazon Pay, Flipkart PhonePe and many more among others.
It will not be an easy game for Facebook, but given its massive base of users within an integrated cross-platform presence, Facebook payments may turn out to be a game-changer in the country.
Latest RBI Norms Will Make Google, Amazon Suffer
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has mandated all digital payments companies to store user data within the country. The latest norms mandate all the companies to set up data storage facilities within India by the end of October 2018.
Due to supervisory reasons, RBI wants to ensure that all the transaction data is monitored within the payment ecosystem. As per the new law, only data of foreign transactions generated overseas can be stored outside India.
Global companies like Google with Tez, Amazon with Amazon Pay, Facebook’s own payments platform and WhatsApp payments will be affected by the new law. All these platforms use Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for bank-to-bank micro payments.
On the other hand, Indian companies like Paytm and Flipkart’s PhonePe will have an added advantage over the new law. This will help RBI to curb potential misuse of user data and enable active regulatory monitoring.