WhatsApp adds prepaid phone recharges in India to drive in-app transactions

At a glance:

• WhatsApp is rolling out prepaid phone recharges in India via PayU, letting users top up Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea numbers inside the app over the next two weeks.
• Despite more than 500 million users in India and UPI payments since 2020, WhatsApp processed about 130 million transactions in March, trailing PhonePe (over 10.5 billion) and Google Pay (over 7.5 billion).
• Since early 2025, WhatsApp Pay UPI volumes more than doubled from roughly 61 million in January 2025, even as PhonePe and Google Pay grew about 30% and 20% respectively and kept the majority of UPI volume.

WhatsApp is adding prepaid phone recharges in India in a move to get more users to transact within the app, even as it struggles to gain meaningful ground in a payments market dominated by Walmart-owned PhonePe and Google Pay. On Thursday, WhatsApp said it is partnering with fintech firm PayU to roll out prepaid phone recharges in India, allowing users to top up mobile numbers for major operators including Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea directly within the messaging app. The feature will be made available to all WhatsApp users in the country over the next two weeks, PayU confirmed to TechCrunch.

The rollout underscores Meta’s effort to embed everyday utility into WhatsApp while contending with entrenched payment habits shaped by the government-backed Unified Payments Interface. By folding recharges into chat, WhatsApp aims to convert its massive reach into routine transactions without redirecting users to external apps or sites, a friction point that has long constrained its payments adoption.

Payments growth amid legacy limits

Despite having more than 500 million users in India and launching payments in 2020, WhatsApp remains a marginal player in the country’s digital payments space, driven by the Unified Payments Interface. The messaging app processed over 130 million transactions in March, according to the latest statistics from the National Payments Corporation of India, far behind rivals such as Walmart-owned PhonePe and Google Pay, which 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. While policy gates have eased, user behavior and brand affinity for established payment apps have proved durable, forcing WhatsApp to pursue niche utilities — such as recharges — that can seed habitual in-app spending.

Momentum since early 2025

Nevertheless, WhatsApp’s payments usage has picked up since early 2025, after onboarding restrictions were lifted. Its UPI transactions more than doubled from about 61 million in January 2025, per the NPCI data. Over the same period, Walmart-owned PhonePe and Google Pay grew by around 30% and 20%, respectively, while continuing to account for the majority of UPI transaction volumes.

That trajectory suggests WhatsApp Pay is benefiting from broader UPI penetration and its own UX refinements, yet scale remains asymmetric. Even with the recent acceleration, WhatsApp would need sustained multi-month growth to materially narrow the volume gap with incumbents that have deeper merchant ecosystems and stronger brand pull for payments.

Broader services push and interface tweaks

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, as the Meta-owned company looks to deepen engagement beyond messaging. 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.

These interface cues hint at a deliberate attempt to raise the visibility of commerce inside a messaging environment where content and conversation typically dominate. By reducing the taps required to reach payments and recharges, WhatsApp is betting on habit formation — a prerequisite for converting its audience into regular transactors rather than occasional users.

Strategy and competitive reality

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.

For now, WhatsApp’s strength is its distribution, not its share of UPI volume. As it adds utilities like prepaid recharges, the test will be whether convenience inside chat can offset the network effects and merchant breadth that keep PhonePe and Google Pay dominant in everyday payments. Over the next several quarters, the durability of WhatsApp Pay’s post-restriction growth — and the uptake of recharge and bill-pay features — will signal whether utility-first additions can translate into lasting payment share.