NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

By Rahul Satija and Anto Antony

Facebook Inc. is set to offer its WhatsApp payment services to the whole of India as early as next week in an attempt to win market share, even though its partners aren’t all ready, said people familiar with the matter.

The messaging app will partner with HDFC Bank Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd. and Axis Bank Ltd. to process the transfers, and State Bank of India will join once it has the necessary systems in place, the people said. Facebook was aiming for a full rollout with four partners but decided to go ahead with just three as its rivals were racing ahead, the people said, asking not to be named as the information isn’t public.

Photo courtesy of Satish Krishnamurthy.