India Removes User Cap on WhatsApp Pay, Delays Market Share Limits for UPI Apps

Meta's WhatsApp Pay can now serve all 500 million Indian users, while Google Pay and PhonePe gain relief from regulatory market share caps until 2026.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has lifted the 100 million user cap on WhatsApp Pay, allowing the service to expand to all 500 million users in India.
WhatsApp Pay will continue to operate under existing Unified Payments Interface (UPI) guidelines as it scales up its services nationwide.
India has delayed the enforcement of a 30% market share cap for UPI apps, giving Google Pay and Walmart-backed PhonePe more time to adjust; the new deadline is December 2026.
PhonePe and Google Pay currently dominate the UPI payments market, processing over 85% of transactions, with PhonePe holding a 47.8% share and Google Pay 37% as of November 2024.
The UPI platform processes over 13 billion transactions monthly and is a key part of India's digital economy, with regulators balancing growth and competition concerns.