WhatsApp offering cashback on digital payments in India

New Delhi: Meta-owned WhatsApp has confirmed that it is running a cash-back campaign in India to drive more users on its digital payments service.

The company is giving away Rs 11 cashback up to three times by sending money to three different contacts via unified payments interface (UPI) on WhatsApp. "We are running a campaign offering cashback incentives in a phased manner to our users as a way to unlock the potential of payments on WhatsApp," a company spokesperson told IANS.

"We'll continue to drive awareness of payments on WhatsApp as part of our broader efforts to bring the next 500 million Indians onto the digital payments ecosystem," the spokesperson added. If you become eligible for the promotion, you will see a banner within the app, or a gift icon when you're sending money to an eligible receiver, according to WhatsApp.

"Once selected, you can send money to any of your registered WhatsApp contacts and receive Rs 11 cashback per successful transaction," the company informed. Google and Paytm have also offered cask-back to users to drive more engagement and retention growth on their respective platforms.

On its support page, WhatsApp said that it will not offer cash-back for QR code payments, payments made on collect requests or made by entering the UPI ID of recipient, as well as payments on third-party online apps using WhatsApp. Earlier this month, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) approved an additional 60 million users for UPI for WhatsApp - taking its cap to 100 million for Payments.

"We believe there is an opportunity for UPI to have an even greater impact for the country -- especially in rural regions where digital and financial inclusion can significantly improve peoples' lives," Manesh Mahatme, Director-Payments, WhatsApp India, had told IANS.

In November last year, the NPCI approved increasing the user cap for WhatsApp's payment service from the current 20 million to 40 million users. The NPCI has been giving approval to WhatsApp in a phased manner so that the competition in the digital payment space in the country is not stifled. WhatsApp kicked off its ambitious peer-to-peer (P2P) digital payments pilot project in India in 2018 with nearly 10 lakh users.