In India push, WhatsApp plans cashback for peer transfers, merchant payment

Business Standard In India push, WhatsApp plans cashback for peer transfers, merchant payment

WhatsApp will within weeks roll out cashback rewards to lure more Indians to its peer-to-peer payments service and is testing similar incentives for merchant payments, two sources said, as the company seeks to compete with rivals including Google.

The latest move comes days after WhatsApp won regulatory approval to more than double its payments offering to 100 million users in India, its biggest market with more than half a billion users overall.

WhatsApp will before the end of May launch the cashback offer of up to 33 Indian rupees ($0.40) for transfers users make on its payments service, which allows contacts to send each other funds from within the messenger app, said the sources, who have direct knowledge of the company's plans.

The incentive, spread over three transactions, will be given irrespective of the amount being transferred, even if it is as little as 1 Indian rupee, in what one source described as WhatsApp's "user acquisition drive."

The WhatsApp cashback amount may appear small, but Neil Shah, vice president of research at Counterpoint Research, said it would be a "compelling enough" reason for users to switch.

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