The mega Jio-Facebook deal might have Paytm quaking in its UPI boots

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Facebook’s $5.7 billion investment in Reliance promises to be the biggest headache yet for Paytm, a SoftBank-backed pioneer in India’s digital payments market but which has been losing ground to rivals with deeper pockets.

Facebook’s WhatsApp, which has been working on gaining regulatory approval for payments services in India, is gearing up for a full rollout of those services by June, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The partnership with Reliance, announced on Wednesday, will give WhatsApp an inside track on payments for Reliance’s retail unit, which aims to serve tens of millions of small shops across India. It will also be able to link up with Reliance’s telecoms business, which has taken the market by storm since its launch in late 2016, and WhatsApp itself has an enormous presence in India with more than 400 million users.