Digitalisation has been taking a huge leap on business strategies since a year. Various mobile applications, wallets and even existing prominent banks has entered into this digital payments business.
Now, the leading mobile chatting app WhatsApp is about to make it to Digital Payments Business. Earlier this month a news regarding HDFC Banks entering the digital payments through Facebook messenger made rounds on media channels. Following this take, WhatsApp is about t0 do the same as per sources.
When asked about the plan , the co-founder Brian Acton said, “It is our eighth birthday. I am excited to be in India specifically as it has passed a big milestone for us – 200 million monthly active users making it the largest population of WhatsApp users and also one of our most important markets. We love working with the people of India and building great features. My trip here is really to play a role as an ambassador to India and say hello.”
Acton then spoke to India’s Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Firday regarding the progress in digitalization in India. While talking about its bid into business in India he said:
“India is a very important country to us, and were proud to have 200 million people who use WhatsApp to connect with their friends, family and communities. We build every WhatsApp feature to be simple, reliable, and secure, and this vision is in line with what Digital India promises to achieve.”
After attending the meeting with minister Ravishankar, Acton spoke to the respective media channels about the issues they discussed and added “I wholeheartedly endorse Digital India Building digital capability is great for India and that’s something that Prime Minister Modi and the Minister are trying to do. We discussed how you could use digital services for civic engagement and promote democracy. We talked about electronic payments and other areas.”
The above statements made by the Acton quite transparently indicate that Indian government is now about to provide a gateway for WhatsApp to enter into digitalization program. Meanwhile, the minister shared a series of pictures alongside Acton on his twitter handle.
Brian Acton, the co-founder of @WhatsApp and a fine mind in the field of Information technology met me today. pic.twitter.com/nuDtNEPQBJ
— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) February 24, 2017
I conveyed as to how #DigitalIndia is changing the face of India & making Indians technologically empowered & creating new opportunities. pic.twitter.com/bz1cmTzO8W
— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) February 24, 2017
I also appreciated the good role of platforms like @facebook, @WhatsApp are playing in the field of Digital empowerment. pic.twitter.com/tendBSWh1j
— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) February 24, 2017