Your bills, one app: WhatsApp rolls out new payment feature

Meta-owned WhatsApp on Thursday launched its bill payments feature in India, enabling users to find, manage, and pay their everyday household and utility bills directly through the messaging app.

Supported by the Bharat Connect (BBPS) network, the feature gives users access to 22,722 billers across 30 categories, including electricity, gas, water, FASTag, insurance, credit card and loan repayments, WhatsApp said in a release.

WhatsApp is rolling out Bill payments to people across India gradually and the feature will be available for all Android and iOS versions over the coming weeks.

It is pertinent to mention here that India's digital payments ecosystem has expanded rapidly over the years, driven by the mass adoption of UPI, growing smartphone penetration and an increasingly wide range of everyday transactions moving online.

In its release, the Meta-owned messaging platform said, "With bill payments on WhatsApp, people can securely pay their utility bills as simply as sending a message - all without leaving WhatsApp."

Users can tap the icon at the top of the home screen to access bill payments, view past payments and upcoming bills, manage multiple accounts under a single provider, and pay with the payment mode of their choice, the release explained.

Arun Srinivas, Managing Director and Country Head of Meta (India), said that for millions of Indians, WhatsApp offers the simplest way to stay connected to family and friends, talk to businesses, access citizen services and buy everything from metro tickets to insurance "all without leaving the app".

"With Bill payments, we're bringing that same simplicity to one of the most routine tasks in every household. No more juggling apps or tracking multiple due dates. We want to make paying a bill on WhatsApp as effortless as sending a message, and help bring the convenience of digital payments to people across the remotest parts of the country," Srinivas added.

Key features include a household bills summary, where bills are pre-fetched, and any biller previously paid on WhatsApp through Bill payments appears on Payments Home for one-tap access. It also highlights another feature - multiple accounts per biller - that enables people to manage bills for home, office and family under a single provider, in one place.

The most-used bill categories surface automatically, with a 'see all' option to browse the full list of 20-plus categories.

"Today, people use WhatsApp to recharge their phones, book metro tickets across cities, and access citizen services through government chatbots, all within a familiar chat interface. With Bill payments now integrated into the app, WhatsApp is extending this utility further, bringing another essential, high-frequency task into a single, seamless experience," the release added. PTI