World’s number one instant messaging app, Whatsapp, is now planning to offer credit, insurance and pension products to lower-income individuals in India and help local small and medium-sized businesses to adopt digital platforms.
Abhijit Bose, WhatsApp’s head in India conveyed the message through a video chat on Wednesday, that Whatsapp has been working with banks like ICICI, Kotak Mahindra and HDFC, in India since last year to figure out ways to bring financial services to people who are not yet included in the banking population or who doesn’t have a bank account yet.
He further added, “Based on the results, we will co-invest and scale. Even a small conversion of the demand will translate into an infusion of significant savings into the financial system. Over the next two years, we are committing to opening in entrepreneurial ways we never have before. We will launch many experiments.”
“Banks today face a number of roadblocks, such as the level of presence they have in a small city or town and their heavy reliance on middlemen to sell financial services that have limited the number of people they can reach”, said Bose.
Whatsapp has the maximum reach of over 400 million users, more than any other app in the country. And, with this vast reach, Whatsapp will be able to bring people into the financial ecosystem quite easily.
Facebook made clear its plan to enter India’s digital payments market In 2018, Facebook was all set to enter India’s digital payment market when it introduced WhatsApp Pay to some of the users in the country. But, due to some complications, the service wasn’t rolled out.
But now, the company says it has fulfilled all the requirements of New Delhi’s central bank, and could receive the final approval for a wide rollout of WhatsApp Pay any day.
