New Delhi, Sep 2026 : Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp on Thursday announced the gradual rollout of a new bill payment feature in India, allowing users to find, manage and pay household and utility bills directly through the app.
The feature will be introduced in phases and is expected to become available to all Android and iOS users across the country over the coming weeks, the company said.
Powered by the Bharat Connect network, formerly known as the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), the service will provide users access to around 22,722 billers across 30 categories. These include electricity, water, gas, FASTag, insurance, credit card payments and loan repayments, expanding WhatsApp’s range of financial and utility services.
Users can access the new bill payment facility by tapping the rupee icon displayed at the top of the WhatsApp home screen. The feature is designed to allow customers to manage their regular payments without having to switch between multiple applications or websites.
The platform will also allow users to view their previous and upcoming bills, manage multiple accounts associated with a single service provider and make payments through both UPI and credit or debit cards.
Arun Srinivas, managing director and country head of Meta India, said WhatsApp had increasingly become a platform through which millions of Indians communicate with family and friends, interact with businesses and access a range of services.
“For millions of Indians, WhatsApp is already the simplest way to stay close to family and friends, talk to businesses, access citizen services, and buy everything from metro tickets to insurance — all without leaving the app,” Srinivas said.
He said the company was seeking to bring the same convenience to routine household payments through the new service, with the broader objective of making bill payments on WhatsApp as simple as sending a message.
The launch further strengthens WhatsApp’s ambitions in India’s rapidly expanding digital payments ecosystem. The company has been steadily expanding WhatsApp Pay, seeking to move beyond peer-to-peer transactions and establish the platform as a broader digital services destination.
The announcement comes months after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in June that Kunal Shah, founder of fintech company CRED, would join Meta as the next global CEO of WhatsApp. Zuckerberg also announced that Meta was investing around $900 million, or nearly ₹8,550 crore, in the fintech company.
WhatsApp’s payment activity in India has grown substantially in recent years. The platform processed around 150 million transactions in June 2026, more than four times the 37 million transactions recorded during the same month in 2024.
Despite the rapid increase in transaction volumes, WhatsApp Pay’s share of the overall UPI ecosystem remains relatively small. Its share of UPI transaction volumes rose to around 0.7 per cent in June 2026, compared with approximately 0.27 per cent two years earlier.
The bill payment rollout could help WhatsApp deepen its presence in India’s digital financial services market by adding recurring household payments to its existing payments offering. By integrating multiple categories of bills and payment methods into a single interface, the company is positioning WhatsApp as a more comprehensive platform for everyday digital transactions.
The gradual rollout will allow WhatsApp to expand access to users across Android and iOS while leveraging the extensive Bharat Connect network. With thousands of billers already integrated into the system, the company is seeking to make routine payments more convenient for consumers while further embedding its services into India’s increasingly digital economy.
