WhatsApp has received legal approval to double the number of payment service users in India by 40 million, a source with specific information told Reuters on Friday. The company had requested that there be no restrictions on users of its payment service in India.
Instead, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) this week told the company it could double the number of users it could offer payment services to - currently limited to 20 million - the source said.
WhatsApp is owned by Facebook, which recently changed its name to Meta.
The source said the new hat would still hamper the company's growth as the WhatsApp messaging system has more than 500 million users in India, the company's largest market.
It was not immediately clear when the new title would be released.
WhatsApp did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while NPCI declined to comment.
WhatsApp competes with Alphabet's Google Pay, SoftBank- and Ant Group-backed Paytm, and Walmart's PhonePe in India's bustling digital marketplace.
NPCI gave WhatsApp permission to start its payment service last year after the company spent years trying to comply with Indian laws, including data retention procedures that required all payments related to payments to be kept in place.
WhatsApp has almost reached 20 million of its users through payment services, said a source, who declined to be identified as the information was confidential.
Internet transactions, lending and e-wallet services were growing rapidly in India, led by a government campaign to get cash-loving country merchants and consumers to use digital payments.