WhatsApp to Introduce Cashback Rewards

WhatsApp is planning to introduce cashback rewards within a few weeks, in order to attract more Indians to peer-to-peer payment services and test similar incentives for merchant payments, as it looks forward to competing with rivals including Google.

It is planning to bring out the offer by the end of May. The cashback will be given irrespective of the amount being transferred. 

The latest move comes a few days after WhatsApp received regulatory approval. India offers more than double the payments to 100 million users, the largest market with a total of more than 500 million users.

Separately, with a broader payment push, WhatsApp is testing a program that provides cashback incentives for users who pay highway tolls, utilities, and other invoices directly from the app, according to sources.

WhatsApp competes with Alphabet Inc's Google Pay, Ant Group-backed Paytm, and Walmart's PhonePe in India's crowded digital payments market.

According to reports, WhatsApp's growth is limiting the number of users India can offer payment services for months as it threatens to overwhelm the country's financial infrastructure by opening it up to all users.