 01-Feb-18, Daily Trust 

WhatsApp, the world's most popular messaging app with over 1.2 bn users and 200 mn in India alone, has launched its digital payment service, with India being the first country. WhatsApp cost Facebook USD22 bn to acquire, but the company before now had not figured out a way to bring in cash to its parent. 

In India, the payment platform will be geared toward small businesses employing less than 10 people.

Image: Daily Trust

India has the most users of WhatsApp in the world. In fact, WhatsApp is more popular than Facebook in India because of a few reasons that include poor bandwidth; meaning that the payment system in Facebook’s Messenger app is not accessible to the average Indian.

Although China has the largest population of Internet users at 750 mn, the country does not have a free-market economy. India does have some level of protectionism as well, but appears to be more receptive to companies from outside.

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