WhatsApp Pay India head Manesh Mahatme quits; to join this massive MNC

The head of WhatsApp's India payment business, Manesh Mahatme, has quit after 18 months. He is reportedly joining Amazon India where he worked for nearly 7 years before joining WhatsApp Pay. Mahatme worked for WhatsApp Payment growth for nearly 18 months. He has played an important role in expanding the access to 'payments on WhatsApp' in India, said Meta in a statement. "We wish him every success for his future endeavours. Payments on WhatsApp is a priority for Meta and we will continue to innovate and drive momentum as part of our broader efforts to bring the 'next 500 million Indians' onto the digital payments' ecosystem," a Meta spokesperson was quoted by Economic Times as saying.

Mahatme was earlier director and board member of Amazon Pay India when he was hired by WhatsApp Pay as Director and Head in April last year. As reported by ET, Mahatme will be joining Amazon India in a strategic role.

Last year in November, the NPCI increased the user cap for WhatsApp's payment service from the current 20 million to 40 million users. Earlier this year in April, NPCI further expanded the payment service to 100 million users. The app has made significant investments regarding digital payments on its platform across the country.

Mahatme recently informed IANS that the Meta-owned company has brought several India-specific features in payments on WhatsApp lately. "We believe that WhatsApp Pay can be a key partner to the NPCI and RBI as we all aim to scale adoption of UPI and financial inclusion to those most in need," the top company executive had said.

However, WhatsApp Pay’s share of UPI payments remained just 1% in August with only 6.72 million transactions despite offering attractive cashback offers and more.