National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has lifted the limit from onboarding UPI users for the third-party app provider WhatsApp Pay with immediate effect.

With this development, WhatsApp Pay can now extend UPI services to its entire user base in India, NPCI said in a statement.

Previously, NPCI had permitted WhatsApp Pay to expand its UPI user base in a phased manner, it added.

There was a cap of 100 million users which has been lifted by NPCI.

With this notification, it said, NPCI is removing the limit restrictions on user onboarding on WhatsApp Pay.

WhatsApp Pay will continue to comply with all existing UPI guidelines and circulars applicable to existing Third-Party Application Providers (TPAPs), it said.

NPCI, an initiative of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks' Association, is an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India (IBA).

NPCI governs the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) framework in India.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.