Facebook-owned WhatsApp has appointed co-founder and chief executive officer of Ezetap, Abhijit Bose as Head of WhatsApp India. Bose will build WhatsApp’s first full country team outside of California and will be based in Gurgaon. He will join the messaging app early next year.
Bose and his team will focus on helping businesses, both large and small connect with their customers.
“WhatsApp is deeply committed to India and we are excited to keep building products that help people connect and support India’s fast-growing digital economy. As a successful entrepreneur himself, Abhijit knows what it takes to build meaningful partnerships that can serve businesses across India,” Matt Idema, chief operating officer of WhatsApp, said in a statement on Wednesday.
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Earlier this year, WhatsApp released the WhatsApp Business app for small business owners and the WhatsApp Business API to serve larger businesses that engage with customers at scale. Today there are over one million users of these WhatsApp business products in India
Commenting on his new role, Abhijit Bose said, “WhatsApp is special and can be a major partner for financial inclusion and economic growth in India. It’s not only how so many families stay in touch, but increasingly it’s how businesses are engaging with their customers. WhatsApp can positively impact the lives of hundreds of millions of Indians, allowing them to actively engage and benefit from the new digital economy”.
Bose joins WhatsApp from Ezetap where he served as Co-Founder and CEO. Founded in 2011, Ezetap is an electronic payments company backed by top-tier venture capitalists.
Bose is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Cornell University. Bose will join WhatsApp in early 2019.
The government has been asking Whatsapp to check the spread of fake messages, some of which have had fatal consequences in the country.
It comes less than a month after a meeting between information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Chris Daniels, vice-president of WhatsApp.
“WhatsApp is special and can be a major partner for financial inclusion and economic growth in India. It’s not only how so many families stay in touch, but increasingly it’s how businesses are engaging with their customers. WhatsApp can positively impact the lives of hundreds of millions of Indians, allowing them to actively engage and benefit from the new digital economy,” said Bose.
In August, the messaging service had appointed a grievance officer for India, Komal Lahiri, who is based in the US. Prasad had suggested that the grievance officer should be located in India.