 "Meta doubling down on WhatsApp Business in India, says MD Devanathan")
Close to 60 per cent of WhatsApp users interact with businesses on the instant messaging platform, Meta India’s managing director (MD) Sandhya Devanathan said on Monday.
Devanathan was speaking at the Mumbai Tech Week 2024.
She explained that the company was doubling down its focus on WhatsApp Business in India.
“About 60 per cent of WhatsApp users are interacting with businesses every week. Overall, around 92 per cent of users are using messaging apps to interact with the businesses, driving quite a lot of commerce and alternate commerce that was already happening on the platform, and this is where we're doubling down and building,” she added.
In September last year, Meta (formerly Facebook) announced several business-focused features for WhatsApp. This included ‘Flows’ for businesses using WhatsApp Business Platform to create menus and customisable forms that support different user needs.
The company also enabled payment options within the chats from different platforms apart from its own. These platforms include UPI apps, debit and credit cards, among others.
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Meanwhile, Devanathan further explained that Meta’s investments in artificial intelligence (AI) have enabled the digital platform to remove 82 per cent of hate speech identified by the company’s automated systems.
Its AI investments have yielded a 20 per cent increase in conversions by improving the relevance of ads for marketers, she added.
“We are focused on AI. Around 81 per cent of our investments are aimed at improving our core access services on both platforms for people who are creators, and businesses,” she said.
Similarly, in September last year, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Education, and Meta signed a three-year partnership to take digital skills to the grassroots, aimed at building talent pool capacities. It is aimed at connecting students, youth, and micro-entrepreneurs across the country.
Under the partnership known as 'Education to Entrepreneurship: Empowering a Generation of Students, Educators and Entrepreneurs', Meta signed three letters of intent (LoI) with the National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).