WhatsApp Pay is one of the few money-making options for the popular chat app, which doesn’t have any ads. And to make more people use its services, the company might be planning to offer cashback rewards.
According to a report by WABetaInfo, WhatsApp is working on a cashback feature in a beta version of its Android app. The last November, the company launched WhatsApp Pay in India, after running it in the test mode for two years, due to regulatory hurdles.
In the country, WhatsApp’s solution is based on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) standard, which also is used by other payment apps such as Walmart’s PhonePe, Google’s Google Pay, and Indian fintech giant Paytm.
Other apps have introduced cashback offers to lure people to use their services over others. This is the first time we’ve heard of Facebook trying to follow the model. Currently, WhatsApp Pay doesn’t hold a large significance in the UPI payments market. The cashback offer might be the company’s way to make it more popular.
WABetaInfo’s report notes that the current code hints towards a one-time cashback of just ₹10 — which is very low compared to what other apps offered at launch — but it could change during the rollout. Plus, you’ll get the cashback 48 hours after you’ve made the payment.
The reward could also be only for the people transacting through WhatsApp Pay for the first time, so if you’ve already used it, you might be out of luck.
All of this is speculative at the moment as the feature is under works, but users will be eagerly waiting for its release, because we Indians do love our cashback rewards.
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