WhatsApp Pay India head Vinay Choletti quits

WhatsApp Pay India head Vinay Choletti has tendered his resignation from his post on Wednesday just four months after taking the job. He was made the head of the company in September this year.

In a LinkedIn post, Choletti said, “Today was my last day at WhatsApp Pay and as I sign off, I can proudly say that watching the scale and the influence of WhatsApp in India has been a humbling experience. The last one year personally has been a great learning journey and the excitement of being on the frontline and launching some global first payments use cases such as "QR tickets for Bangalore Metro on WhatsApp” was unmatched. I am humbled to see the customer adoption of novel use cases using WhatsApp Pay and I will wear these badges proudly for the rest of my life.”

 “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,” he added. 

An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, Choletti joined WhatsApp Pay India in October 2021, as the head of merchants payment in the company. He has also worked with Amazon Pay as the head of SMB Payments and head of business operations and risk management. 

Choletti’s resignation comes months after WhatsApp India head Abhijit Bose and Meta India's public policy director Rajiv Aggarwal resigned from their respective positions in November. While Bose joined WhatsApp India in 2019, Aggarwal joined Meta India in September last year. 

Shivnath Thukral, who worked as the public policy director of WhatsApp India, has been appointed as the director of public policy for all Meta-owned social media platforms namely Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram in India. 

Earlier Ajit Mohan, the former head of Meta India resigned in November, to join the rival Snap, which is the parent company of the social media platform Snapchat. Following this, in November, Sandhya Devanathan has been appointed as the new head of its India business. Devanathan will focus on bringing the organisation's business and revenue priorities together to serve its partners and clients, the company said in a statement. She will transition to her new role on January 1, 2023, and will report to Dan Neary, vice president of Meta APAC and will be a part of the APAC leadership team.

The development of resignations by top executives at Meta India and WhatsApp India comes as Meta recently laid off as many as 11,000 employees or 13% of its employees globally owing to weak revenue and a competitive advertising market. In India, which is one of the most lucrative markets for Meta with more than 200 million WhatsApp and Instagram users, the company has laid off employees marginally.