WhatsApp global chief to push for payment products during India visit

Will Cathcart, global chief of social messaging platform WhatsApp, will push for the launch of WhatsApp Pay during his meeting with representatives of the  Reserve Bank of India and retail payments body National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).  

WhatsApp Pay has been stuck in the pilot phase with one million users due to regulatory hurdles since its launch in early 2018.

Cathcart, who took over after the departure of Chris Daniels in May this year, is scheduled to visit India on Wednesday for a two-day stop-over at Mumbai and Delhi. 

WhatsApp had claimed earlier that it had 200 million monthly active users in India in 2018.

Cathcart will also be hosting an event for its WhatsApp for business and will be meeting NITI Aayog chief Amitabh Kant.

Cathcart will use the meetings, which was first reported by The Economic Times, to highlight the data localisation compliance of the company after RBI notified in April 2018 that all payments related data has to be stored in India and certified by an auditor.  

WhatsApp India head Abhijit Bose had said recently that the company was looking to launch its payment feature for businesses soon.