Axis Bank set to tie up with WhatsApp for UPI

Stressing that the fintech era is all about partnering, third largest private sector lender Axis Bank today said it will "soon" be able to process payments over the popular chatting application- WhatsApp.

"The narrative from the fintech side has changed from being competitors to banks to collaborators to banks. Whether it is Axis powers Google tez for UPI or we will soon power WhatsApp for UPI," its executive director and head of retail banking, Rajiv Anand, said at an event here.

It can be noted that the Facebook-owned app is already in the test phase of its payments application, where it is using the Unified Payment Interface for processing payments.

Operators like WhatsApp or Google are only the front-end, through which transactions are carried out, but they need to have tie-ups with banks at the backend for carrying out fund transfers. WhatsApp has tied up with ICICI Bank to launch its payment service during February.