With the entry of Whatsapp into the digital payments market in India trying to expand its control over it, it could threaten Paytm and its leading control over the market at present. Whatsapp is one of the most popular internet platforms in the country has introduced tens of millions of users to the digital platforms by launching digital payments. Paytm which is the leader in payments which involve nearly 300 million registered users can lose out on most of its customer base if Whatsapp owned by Facebook Inc. pushes its payment service to 230 million people who use the app frequently in order to send pictures, messages, and other things.
Whatsapp has launched payments on trial for some of its users this month based on Unified Payments Interface platform. News has it that the service will be introduced to the customers soon enough. The founder of Paytm Mr. Vijay Shekhar Sharma allegedly stated that Whatsapp was breaking all rules and putting consumers at risk since the steps which should be involved in the payments process were missing. He also said that Whatsapp was restricting access to the other platforms which were based on UPI. The National Payments Corp. of India which owns the UPI said that all the UPI apps support interoperability.
However, apart from this reason of interoperability, what actually is at stake is the dominance of Paytm over the digital payments business which has helped the company become the second-most valuable internet start-up after Flipkart in India. Paytm also beat its rivals including FreeCharge and Mobikwik to become the largest digital payments brand in the country. But, Paytm has not faced a competitor as difficult as Whatsapp till now. The entry of Whatsapp can bring another 100 million users in the field of digital payments which will be a huge boost for the digital payments ecosystem. Paytm did not respond to any emails and Whatsapp did not comment on the matter.