In a big setback for Facebook parent Meta, WhatsApp Pay chief Vinay Choletti quits

Within months of taking charge, WhatsApp Pay India chief Vinay Choletti, has quit.

Just after quitting WhatsApp Pay, Vinay Choletti said he was moving on to his next "adventure". (REUTERS)

Within months of taking charge, WhatsApp Pay India chief Vinay Choletti, has quit. This comes just 4 months after he joined the company. This heralds yet another setback for WhatsApp parent Meta Platforms as it is the the latest in a series of senior-level exits.

Late on Tuesday, on LinkedIn, Choletti posted this message, "As I move on to my next adventure, I strongly believe that WhatsApp has the power to phenomenally transform digital payments and financial inclusion in India and I look forward to seeing it leverage its potential in the coming years."

However, no official reason has been provided for thois sudden exit. Choletti took over the job from his predecessor Manesh Mahatme's exit in September. He has joined Amazon. Choletti himself was at Amazon for 7 years before he moved to WhatsApp Pay, his LinkedIn profile shows.

Facebook parent Meta has suffered a series of setbacks as a number of top-ranking executives quit their roles within the last few months. Among them were, WhatsApp India head Abhijit Bose, Meta public policy director in India Rajiv Aggarwal and Meta India head Ajit Mohan had resigned in November.

These exits also come in the wake of mass layoffs at Meta last month. Meta job cuts were in excess of 11,000 or 13% of its workforce.

WhatsApp Pay is a UPI-based payments service which launched in India last February in beta mode. WhatsApp users can link their UPI-enabled bank accounts and transfer money through the messaging app. WhatsApp supports all popular banks like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Axis Bank and Airtel Payments Bank.