India is home to WhatsApp’s largest user base of over 500 million people. The government on Tuesday lifted the ban on the app’s payments service, WhatsApp Payments, in a major win for parent company Meta. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which oversees the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system, announced that WhatsApp will now expand its payments feature to all users in the country, removing the previous limit of 100 million users. Could. This was first reported by TechCrunch.

The decision represents a significant change in regulatory policy, which had previously limited the rollout of WhatsApp Payments. Initially limited to 40 million users in 2020 and later expanded to 100 million in 2022, NPCI’s cautious approach reflected concerns over market concentration in India’s fast-growing digital payments sector.

India’s UPI platform handles more than 13 billion transactions monthly, with Google Pay and PhonePe controlling more than 85 percent of the market. WhatsApp’s expansion is a direct challenge to these incumbents, bolstered by its huge user base and seamless integration with messaging apps.

The timing is particularly favorable for Meta, as the company has recently introduced its generative AI product, Meta AI, which has also gained significant popularity in India, further strengthening the importance of the country in Meta’s global strategy Has gone.

Apart from lifting the ban on WhatsApp Payments, NPCI postponed the proposed rule limiting UPI transaction share of any one app to 30 per cent till December 31, 2026. This extension gives WhatsApp more time to establish its foothold in the competitive fintech landscape.

The decision not only enhances Meta’s financial services ambitions but also underlines India’s role as a key growth market for the tech giant.