Same in India. WhatsApp wanted to use the payment system UPI but wasn't granted permission to do. Same reason I think - one app that handled all communication and all payments would have been too powerful.
WhatsApp had implemented the feature as early as 2018 but they were denied permission to launch. They were finally granted permission in 2020 … but only to onboard 1 million users. This limit was increased to 100 million in late 2022 and then removed in late 2024. (https://coingeek.com/whatsapp-pay-to-expand-upi-services-to-...).
WhatsApp currently has 600 million active users in India and has been the most popular app for a long time. If it had been granted permission in 2018 it would be the most popular UPI app now. There wouldn’t be a competitive app ecosystem like there is now.
