India has officially lifted restrictions on WhatsApp's payment service, allowing the platform to offer WhatsApp Pay to its entire user base of over 500 million. This decision by the National Payments Corporation of India marks a significant shift in the regulator's approach, removing the previous cap of 100 million users. WhatsApp's expansion comes amid scrutiny of India's UPI platform, which processes over 13 billion transactions monthly and is dominated by Google Pay and PhonePe. This move strengthens Meta's position in the competitive fintech landscape of India.