WhatsApp Pay doubles UPI volume to 167.9 million transactions, surpassing Cred and Amazon Pay

WhatsApp Pay processed 167.89 million UPI transactions worth ₹12,957.07 crore in July 2026, ranking eighth among UPI apps by volume. The service more than doubled transactions year on year after NPCI removed onboarding caps.

— Source published Mon, 17 Aug, 2026, 14:56 IST · First seen Mon, 17 Aug, 2026, 15:15 IST · Source Business Today · Latest

What happened

WhatsApp Pay processed 167.89 million UPI transactions worth ₹12,957.07 crore in India in July 2026, more than doubling year-on-year volume. It became India’s

Key facts

  • 167.89 million UPI transactions
  • ₹12,957.07 crore transaction value
  • 74.6 million transactions in July 2025
  • ₹5,412.58 crore transaction value in July 2025
  • WhatsApp Pay ranked eighth by UPI transaction volume
  • PhonePe: 10.85 billion transactions
  • Google Pay: 7.64 billion transactions
  • Paytm: 1.90 billion transactions

Why this matters

WhatsApp Pay’s scale-up strengthens the strategic value of partnerships in conversational commerce, merchant payments and WhatsApp-native loyalty as NPCI restrictions ease.

What to watch

  • Monthly UPI volume and value growth for WhatsApp Pay relative to Cred, Amazon Pay, Paytm, Google Pay, and PhonePe.
  • WhatsApp Pay's ranking progression and whether transaction growth persists after the initial post-cap onboarding surge.
  • Merchant acceptance additions, especially WhatsApp Business payment flows and QR/payment-link integrations.
  • Meta promotional spending, cashback programs, payment incentives, or click-to-WhatsApp commerce product launches.
  • NPCI policy changes affecting market-share limits, onboarding, data controls, or UPI monetization.
  • Evidence that WhatsApp Pay's average transaction value rises, indicating movement from peer transfers toward retail purchases.
  • Retailers should add prominent WhatsApp Pay/UPI payment prompts to WhatsApp Business catalogs, order confirmations, and customer-support flows.
  • Track whether WhatsApp Pay users show higher conversion from chat inquiry to paid order versus external payment links.
  • Payment aggregators and commerce platforms should expand WhatsApp Business integrations, including payment-status confirmation and abandoned-order follow-ups.
  • Large retailers should prepare for Meta to bundle payments with loyalty, offers, click-to-WhatsApp ads, and local-store fulfillment capabilities.