WhatsApp announced in April 2026 that it is adding prepaid phone recharges in India, partnering with fintech firm PayU to allow users to top up mobile numbers for major operators including Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea directly within the messaging app. The feature will roll out to all WhatsApp users in the country over the next two weeks, PayU confirmed to TechCrunch on Thursday.
The move comes as WhatsApp struggles to gain meaningful ground in India’s digital payments market, which is dominated by Walmart-owned PhonePe and Google Pay. Despite having more than 500 million users in India and launching payments in 2020, WhatsApp processed only 130 million transactions in March 2026, according to the National Payments Corporation of India. By comparison, PhonePe and Google Pay processed more than 10.5 billion and 7.5 billion transactions, respectively, over the same period.
The gap has persisted even after the NPCI lifted onboarding limits on WhatsApp Pay in late 2024, allowing the service to expand to its full user base in India after years of phased rollouts. However, WhatsApp’s payments usage has picked up since early 2025 after restrictions were lifted. Its UPI transactions more than doubled from about 61 million in January 2025, per NPCI data. Over the same period, PhonePe and Google Pay grew by around 30% and 20%, respectively, while continuing to account for the majority of UPI transaction volumes.
The latest rollout adds to WhatsApp’s broader push to expand payments and services within the app in India, where users can already pay bills, book metro tickets, and access a range of government services through chat-based interfaces. WhatsApp has also introduced a rupee icon on its home screen to make it easier for users to access the payments section, alongside features such as mobile recharges and peer-to-peer transfers.
Ravi Garg, director of business messaging at Meta India, said the updates are aimed at making everyday transactions simpler within WhatsApp as the company aims to bring more utility into the app. The move highlights Meta’s push to deepen engagement beyond messaging, even as it continues to lag established digital payment players in driving transaction volumes.
Source: TechCrunch