WhatsApp offers new services amid intensifying  competition

WhatsApp Pay was rolled out in November but the feature was not available to many users initially.WhatsApp aims to become the go-to platform for small businesses and first-time insurance buyers and is counting on its Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based payments feature, which is now live across India, besides its new business-centric features.The Facebook-owned messaging platform aims to gain market share against established payments rivals such as Google and PhonePe. Though WhatsApp has over 400 million active users and 15 million business users in India, it has been a late entrant in many segments, such as payments or micro insurance, which are also offered by other payment apps. PhonePe has sold more than 500,000 insurance plans in April-August period this year.“Our aim was to make sending money to family and friends as easy and as secure as sending a message or attaching a photo. I am delighted to share with you that WhatsApp Pay is now live across the country through our bank partners State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and Axis Bank," said Abhijit Bose, chief executive, WhatsApp India, on the second day of the virtual event, Facebook Fuel for India.