WhatsApp Pay India Chief Resigns within Four Months of taking Charge

Choletti took charge of WhatsApp Pay in India following Manesh Mahatme's exit in September to join Amazon.

Vinay Choletti, head of WhatsApp's India payment business, has quit the firm within four months in the role, marking the latest in a series of domestic senior-level departures at parent company Meta Platform.

“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,” Choletti wrote on LinkedIn late Tuesday.

Before joining WhatsApp Pay in October 2021 as the head of Merchant Payments, Choletti had worked at Amazon for seven years, according to his LinkedIn profile.

WhatsApp, the messaging service owned by Meta, been trying to lure more Indians to its peer-to-peer payments service as it tries to ramp up in a highly competitive market and lock horns with more established payers such as Alphabet's Google Pay, Ant Group-backed Paytm and Walmart's PhonePe.

Meta was in the middle of massive layoffs last month, cutting more than 11,000 jobs or 13 percent of its workforce, as the Facebook parent doubled down on its metaverse bet amid a crumbling advertising market and decades-high inflation.

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On November 1, WhatsApp rolled out a new feature which lets Bangalore citizens buy Namma Metro tickets at a 5 per cent discount on base ticket fare by simply messaging a 'Hi' to +91 81055 56677.

The feature lets travelers skip long metro lines, allowing them to purchase transit tickets for one-way, recharge metro passes, view schedule, and check updated fares. The chatbot also allows you to cancel your ticket.

Choletti and Mahatme's exit comes at a crucial time for WhatsApp Pay, which won the mandate to extend its user base from 40 million to 100 million in April 2022.

His exit comes at the time when India is facing a mass-exodus of top-executives. WhatsApp is yet to release a official statement on his exit.

Meta was in the middle of massive layoffs last month, cutting more than 11,000 jobs or 13 percent of its workforce, as the Facebook parent doubled down on its metaverse bet amid a crumbling advertising market and decades-high inflation.