WhatsApp is betting big on India for its Business products: Key takeaways from its second Business Summit

Meta on Tuesday hosted its second WhatsApp Business Summit in Mumbai. The company introduced new features aimed at small and medium enterprises, seeking to make it easier for them to operate and manage customer interactions.

WhatsApp Business Summit 2025: Key takeaways from announcements

WhatsApp renews its focus on positioning WhatsApp as a payments platform

Despite a 500 million large user base in India, Meta’s WhatsApp Pay efforts have not shown success. This is because it lagged the critical functionalities such as QR codes within app, in-app payments among others and poorer positioning against its competitors. However, today, it unveiled QR code payments within apps for WhatsApp Business users, a move that will lead to some growth in WhatsApp Pay users.

Focus on customer support facility for Business users

The WhatsApp parent introduced two new features for WhatsApp Business users. These included in-app calling for larger businesses, that will now allow customers to connect with support executives instantly using voice calls, with video calling and voice messages functionalities to be launched soon.

This means that several companies, particularly MSMEs, can simply use WhatsApp Business for having their support system functionality, instead of building it completely in-house which is a hefty debit for businesses.

Further, the company claimed that its Business users are increasingly using WhatsApp Business AI, that can automate these voice interactions.

Additionally, small businesses gain the flexibility to tailor these solutions and features using both the WhatsApp Business App and Business Platform (API) simultaneously. This again is extended for users using these on the same phone number, expanding its audience base.

Advertising for revenue push

Although WhatsApp has deep user penetration in India, Meta has struggled to monetise the platform, unlike Instagram where its advertising model has found more success.

As a result, WhatsApp announced a centralised Ads Manager that will be enable users to run marketing campaigns across the Meta’s Family of App simultaneously, with the possibility of using Meta AI to ‘optimise the budgets across platforms.’

Further, the company is rolling our ads in Status from today, alongside promoted channels and paid subscriptions in the Updates tab, the company stated. Maruti Suzuki, Air India and Flipkart are among the early adopters of this paid advertising model.

A reason why WhatsApp is focused on expanding its Business offering in India is because the company has seen the best response for this product here, with Pakistan at a distant second, according to data from Statista. Further, partnerships with government players including Delhi Metro have proved successful for the company.

“WhatsApp has become an essential part of our daily lives in India, helping people stay connected, shop, learn, and access essential services. Millions of people in India are already using WhatsApp to buy tickets, recharge their metro passes, and pay utility bills. However, there is a need to build an ecosystem where people have access to essential services in each state right at their fingertips. We are excited that more and more state governments across India are partnering with us to unlock access to essential public services for the people,” said Arun Srinivas, Managing Director & Country Head, Meta in India.

As a result, with its large user base in India, Meta is now shifting focus to monetising these users and driving higher revenue from the platform.

“With our latest tools and features, we are confident that businesses will unlock stronger ROI, build deeper and more personal connections with customers, and scale successfully,” added Srinivas.