Last modified: August 10, 2020 (archived versions)
WhatsApp Payments Terms of Service - India
Table of Contents
WhatsApp LLC (“WhatsApp,” “our,” “we,” or “us”) provides messaging, Internet calling, and other services to users around the world, including the ability to send and receive payments through designated payment service providers (“PSPs”) in India (“Payments”) via Unified Payments Interface (“UPI”) developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (“NPCI”). Payments is a “Service” as defined in the WhatsApp Terms of Service (“Terms”), and the following WhatsApp Payments Terms of Service (“Payments Terms”) supplement the Terms and apply to your use of Payments. You agree to the Payments Terms when you use Payments.
About our payment service
Our Role. Payments is a service we provide through, and in coordination with, designated PSPs. We provide a convenient platform that enables you to submit transaction instructions to PSPs for processing via UPI. We are not a licensed financial institution, do not receive, transfer, or store any funds in connection with Payments, and are not responsible for UPI service interruptions or acts or omissions of PSPs or banks including the payment, settlement, and clearance of funds. You have a separate relationship with your bank regarding your bank account, and WhatsApp has no affiliation with your bank in this respect.
PSP’s Role. When you send or receive funds through Payments, a designated PSP receives the instructions and processes the transaction via UPI. By using Payments, you will also need to agree to the PSP’s terms and privacy policy, which will be presented to you when you first use Payments. The PSP’s terms and privacy policy are also available here. These Payments Terms govern the relationship between WhatsApp and you regarding Payments, and the PSP’s terms govern the relationship between the PSP and you.
Eligibility. To use Payments, you must use a phone number with the country code for India and have a bank account with a bank that supports UPI. The phone number you use for our Services must be the same phone number linked to your bank account used for Payments.
Registration and UPI PIN setup. You must be an owner of the bank account you use to send and receive funds through Payments. After you provide information to confirm your mobile banking account, WhatsApp facilitates creation of a UPI ID (virtual payment address) that is associated with your WhatsApp account. Since your transaction instructions are processed via UPI, you must have a UPI PIN to send payments. We will ask you to create a UPI PIN to send payments if you do not already have one for your bank account.
Age. You must be at least 18 years old to use Payments.
Credits. We may credit your bank account for purposes including rewards and special offers. Our affiliate WhatsApp Application Services Private Limited provides such credits on our behalf.
Fees and Taxes. You must pay any applicable fees arising out of your use of Payments, including any overdraft, transaction, or other fees charged by your bank, PSPs, or WhatsApp. You must comply with applicable tax laws in connection with your use of Payments, including reporting and payment of any taxes related to transactions made through Payments and any income received from such transactions. WhatsApp is not responsible for withholding, collecting, reporting, or remitting any sales, use, value added, or other tax arising from any transaction you complete using Payments.
Privacy policy and user data
WhatsApp cares about your privacy. Our Privacy Policy applies to your use of Payments. Because additional information will be collected and processed when you use Payments, the WhatsApp Payments Privacy Policy also applies to your use of Payments. The WhatsApp Payments Privacy Policy describes additional information practices applicable to Payments, including the types of information we receive and collect from you when you use Payments and how we use and share this information. If you use Payments, you agree to our data practices, including the collection, use, processing, and sharing of your information as described in our Privacy Policy and our Payments Privacy Policy.
Use of payments
Payment Amount. You are responsible for the total payment amount. You must ensure that you have sufficient funds in your bank account before executing any transaction through Payments. Your payment will not be sent if the PSP or your bank determines that your bank account lacks sufficient funds to cover the entire transaction amount.
Acceptable Use of Payments. You must access and use Payments only for legal, authorized, and acceptable purposes, according to our Terms and posted policies including merchant policies as may be published from time to time. A PSP or WhatsApp may impose limits on your ability to send or receive payments, including transaction limits. A PSP or WhatsApp may also cancel any transaction if we believe the transaction violates the Terms, these Payments Terms, posted policies, or the PSP’s terms.
Purchase Transactions. If you use Payments to pay for goods or services, you agree to make legitimate purchases and to be bound by any terms of the sale. We have no responsibility for any goods or services purchased using Payments, including for any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, chargebacks or disputes associated with transactions. WE MAKE NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO ANY PRODUCTS OR SERVICES PURCHASED USING PAYMENTS.
Payments Transactions Are Final. Once you submit a payment, it is final. WhatsApp does not provide refunds or facilitate chargebacks. WhatsApp is not liable for unauthorized transactions. We assume no responsibility for the underlying transaction of funds, or the actions or identity of any transfer recipient or sender.
Business Use of Payments. If you are a business and use our Services, you must comply with all applicable laws associated with your use of our Services, including Payments. You must clearly disclose any applicable terms and fees to your customers and promptly fulfill any goods or services you sell using Payments in accordance with any sale terms and applicable laws. WhatsApp is not a party to the transaction.
Other
- If there is any conflict between these Payments Terms and the Terms, these Payments Terms control solely with respect to your use of Payments and only to the extent of the conflict.
- We may amend or update these Payments Terms. We will provide you notice of amendments to our Payments Terms, as appropriate, and update the “Last Modified” date at the top of our Payments Terms. Your continued use of Payments confirms your acceptance of our Payments Terms, as amended. If you do not agree to our Payments Terms, as amended, you must stop using Payments. Please review our Payments Terms from time to time.
UPI Terms Required by NPCI
What is NPCI?
NPCI is an authorized payment system operator by RBI. NPCI owns and operates the UPI payment system.
What is a PSP bank?
PSP is the banking company authorized to act as a Payment Service Provider (PSP) under the UPI framework. PSP engages the TPAP to provide UPI services to the end-user customers.
What are TPAPs?
Third Party Application Provider (TPAP) is the entity that provides the UPI compliant app to the end-user customers to facilitate UPI based payment transactions.
What is a customer’s bank?
The bank where the end-user customer maintains his/her account and has linked the account for the purpose of debiting/crediting the payment transactions made through UPI.
Who is an end-user customer?
The end-user customer is the individual who uses UPI payment facility to send and receive payments.
UPI Participants’ Roles and Responsibilities. You can find more information about the roles and responsibilities of UPI participants here.
We hereby confirm that:
- We, WhatsApp, are a TPAP authorized by NPCI to facilitate payments through ICICI Bank. We are a service provider and we participate in UPI through PSP bank.
- We are bound by the tripartite agreement entered with the sponsor PSP, ICICI Bank, and NPCI. We are responsible for facilitating grievances / complaints resolution of the customers on-boarded on our UPI application.
- We shall be the first point of contact for all UPI related grievances/complaints for customers on-boarded by us. In case the complaint/grievance remains unresolved, the next level for escalation will be the PSP Bank, followed by the bank (where you maintain the account) and NPCI in the same order. After exercising these options, you can approach the Banking Ombudsman and / or the Ombudsman for Digital Complaints, as the case may be.
You can learn more about the dispute redressal mechanism here.