WhatsApp Pay Vs Google Pay Vs PhonePe: Who Has The Edge?

It is a platform that processed more than 2 billion transactions in October. Twenty-one third-party applications are active on it, along with 140 lenders. Yet, it is dominated by two large payment applications with a third new entrant now threatening to play disruptor.

With the entry of WhatsApp Pay — which was permitted to launch services to 20 million users last week — the battle to grab a share of transactions via India’s fast-growing Unified Payment Interface is expected to intensify.

At present, Google Pay and Walmart-owned PhonePe have cornered 80% of the market, split evenly between themselves. Paytm comes in at a distant third position. While the rollout of WhatsApp Pay will happen in stages, many believe it has an edge right from the start.

"When there was MDR (merchant discount rate), there was an incentive for the banks to participate in UPI. But once it became nil, the revenue pool vanished, even the large banks did not see much incentive in playing in this space," said Shishir Mankad, Leader- Financial Services, Praxis Global Alliance.