Upcoming Features From WhatsApp - Loan, Insurance

WhatsApp, the popular messaging company owned by Facebook, has outlined how to build pilot credit, pension and insurance services over the next 18 months through its financial services plan for India.

Abhijit Bose, President of WhatsApp in India, shared the details of the financial service plan via video chat at the Global Fintech Fest earlier this week. It is expected to provide financial solutions for the current low-wage workers - the informal sector. For more than 300 million self-employed persons, Rs. 50, MSME aims to digitize businesses and provide insurance services through its platform.

 

Bose said messaging agents are already working with popular private banks in India, including ICICI, Kotak Mahindra, and HDFC, to use WhatsApp-based services. ICICI and Kotak are said to have reached more than 3 million new users in the past year. He added that the company would later offer a full range of services for "co-invest and scale" projects.

WhatsApp already has over 400 million users in India and can add another 200 million users to its official release through its UPI payment service. The company is now pursuing data localization policies that have delayed its release, which is expected to take effect soon.

As WhatsApp's UPI service could be a major contributor to Geo's retail expansion in the coming months, WhatsApp Bay integration with Geomart may be possible, ”says Bernstein.