WhatsApp may stop WhatsApp Pay UPI payments feature in India after July

Last week, WhatsApp told Supreme Court that it is conducting a trial run of WhatsApp Pay UPI payments feature and will comply with RBI rms on data localisation before launching full service. WhatsApp said trial run is likely to complete by end of July this year.

A Supreme Court bench of Justices Vineet Saran and R F Nariman was hearing a petition submitted by Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC) NGO. petition claims that WhatsApp doesn't fully comply with RBI's circular pertaining to data localisation rms.  

Appearing for WhatsApp, Senior vocates Kapil Sibal and Arvind Datar told bench that WhatsApp is only conducting a trial run of its UPI payments feature and it is likely to be completed by July. y also said that WhatsApp will t launch WhatsApp's UPI-based payment services without hering to RBI rms.

"We cant launch product without complying with rms," Sibal said.

RE | How to stop people from ding you to random groups on WhatsApp

Appearing for NGO, vocate Virag Gupta said that WhatsApp was permitted to conduct trial of its UPI-enabled payments services with one million users.  Citing RBI's circular dated April 6, 2018, Gupta said that WhatsApp trial data of Indian users cant be allowed to be stored outside India. 

"This may be violative of permission granted by National Payment Corporations of India (NPCI) to Whatsapp," Gupta said.

Responding to that, Sibal said re was formal agreement between WhatsApp and NPCI till w. Appearing for Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that WhatsApp was t hering to data localisation rms, citing affidavit filed by RBI.

To this, Supreme Court bench said that if WhatsApp doesn't follow rms laid down by RBI, n it can be prosecuted.

"Don't worry our arms are long eugh. y cant escape law," it said. Supreme Court also ded that issue requires detailed hearing and listed matter in July. 

CASC said in its plea that a customer needs to follow KYC rms laid down by RBI and various or formalities to open a bank account.

RE | WhatsApp privacy: You may soon be able to block chat screenshots on WhatsApp

"WhatsApp is a foreign company with office or servers in India. To run Payments Service in India, WhatsApp is obligated to have its office and payments in India," it said.

"Moreover, it is also required to have a Grievance Officer for users in India. Yet, it is being allowed to continue with its payments and or services, without any check," plea claimed.

WhatsApp has more than 200 million users in India and almost one million people are "testing" its payments service. India happens to be one of largest bases for WhatsApp. WhatsApp has more than 1.5 billion users globally.

(With PTI inputs)