Facebook Inc. may roll out its WhatsApp Inc. payment services in India as early as the week of June 4, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The social messaging company will partner with India's HDFC Bank Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd. and Axis Bank Ltd. to process payment transfers through WhatsApp Pay. State Bank of India will join the group once necessary systems are in place.
Facebook initially planned to launch the payment platform with four partners, but decided to go ahead with just three to win market share. The company will compete against Google Inc.'s mobile payment platform Tez and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.-backed Paytm in India.
A representative for WhatsApp said the company does not comment on speculation, while ICICI Bank could not immediately comment. Emails sent to the three other Indian banks were unanswered at the time of publication, Bloomberg said.
There are about 200 million users of WhatsApp in India, according to the report.
