Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled new product features focused on business messaging, on September 20, as the company sees India as a priority market to drive the growth of WhatsApp Business.

During Meta’s Conversations event at the Jio Convention Centre in Mumbai, Zuckerberg said that WhatsApp will soon enable users to purchase directly from businesses within the app and enable businesses to create customised experiences for customers through WhatsApp Flows.

“We’re going to support other payment methods as well, including all UPI apps. This is gonna make it even easier for people to pay in businesses within WhatsApp chat using whatever method they prefer,” he said. Meta is partnering with fintech companies Razorpay and PayU to roll out this feature for Indian businesses.

This follows a similar partnership with Stripe to enable merchant payments on WhatsApp in Singapore. WhatsApp also offers a similar service for merchants in Brazil.

“India is leading the world in terms of how people and businesses embrace messaging, a better way to get things done,” said Zuckerberg, who joined the event virtually.

Zuckerberg had previously referred to business messaging as a “major monetisation opportunity” and one of the company’s key investment areas for 2023.

WhatsApp Flows allows businesses the ability to create customised chat windows for businesses based on the services they offer. According to the Meta chief, this new feature will be much faster and more convenient for customers to shop than having to jump between apps or websites.

Meta is also expanding its paid verification programme Meta Verified to businesses in India. The company said it will soon start testing Meta Verified with small businesses using the WhatsApp Business app before rolling out to businesses on the WhatsApp Business Platform.

Apart from WhatsApp, Meta is also rolling out Meta Verified for businesses across Instagram and Facebook, in the coming months, in a bid to assure consumers that they are interacting with verified and authentic businesses.

In addition, Zuckerberg added that the company will also roll out the Meta verified feature for businesses using WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook, in the coming months, helping assure consumers that they are interacting with validated and authentic businesses.

Earlier in June, Meta expanded its Verified program for Indian users after testing it in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Meta Verified offers several features to users, including a verified badge, proactive account protection, and access to account support.

India opportunity for WhatsApp Business

Business messaging has become strategically important for the Facebook parent over the past year or so, as it looks to diversify revenue sources beyond traditional digital advertising that took a significant hit in 2022 due to the economic downturn and impact of Apple’s iOS privacy policy changes.

With over 500 million users, India is Meta’s biggest market in terms of user base for WhatsApp. The company is now looking to capitalise on its popularity and widespread adoption to drive monetisation for the world’s largest messaging app.

Moneycontrol had exclusively reported that the app is set to hit revenue of $1 billion in India by the end of 2023.

Meta India’s current Vice President and Managing Director Sandhya Devanathan also announced that the company plans to upskill about 10 million Indian traders using WhatsApp Business features in the next 3 years, across 29 states and 11 languages.

Meta Conversations 2023 is the first offline edition organised by the company and focuses on business messaging features. Prominent startups like Gupshup, PayU, Razorpay, Exotel, and Salesforce have set up booths at the venue, and demos of Meta and WhatsApp’s products, including Way Finder, are lined up on the sidelines.