Team siliconindia

• Meta is using India’s business messaging habits to shape and test WhatsApp’s global features like business calling.
• WhatsApp shifted to per-message pricing and introduced volume discounts to boost business revenue.
• Meta is using AI and new user controls to reduce unsolicited promotional messages and improve user experience.

In an era where digital communication is central to commerce, Meta is betting big on India to steer its global business messaging strategy, particularly through its most popular messaging app WhatsApp. With over 500 million users in the country, India has emerged as a testing ground and innovation hub for Meta’s evolving business messaging tools and monetisation models.

Nikila Srinivasan, Vice President of Business Messaging at Meta, highlighted India’s unique role in shaping how Meta builds and rolls out its business products. Speaking to Moneycontrol, Srinivasan said, “India is a market where people and businesses often lead with behaviours that one can learn from and productise. It’s a useful market to get a pulse check on how business messaging evolves because, in some ways, it’s simply a way of life here”.

She elaborated that Meta closely observes how businesses in India engage with their customers and often draws inspiration directly from their needs. A case in point is the recent introduction of business calling features on WhatsApp. Launched globally on July 1, the feature allows large businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform to receive or place voice calls, especially in scenarios where customers prefer real-time interaction over text. The move was largely driven by feedback from Indian businesses that were already informally using calling and wanted it officially supported and scalable.

Meta’s approach is to identify organic behaviour and formalise it into features, a process that Srinivasan calls 'productising real-world needs'. Small businesses in India have already been using voice features via the WhatsApp Business app, and now the functionality is expanding to larger enterprises with infrastructure support.

India’s influence goes beyond feature development. It’s also at the heart of Meta’s strategic pivot to reduce reliance on traditional advertising and grow new revenue streams. WhatsApp Business, in particular, has become a cornerstone of this shift. During Meta’s April earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg declared business messaging as the company’s 'next pillar', signalling long-term focus on turning WhatsApp into a revenue-generating platform.

In India and other key markets such as Brazil, Mexico, and Indonesia, business messaging is more than just a feature it’s a cultural norm. These regions serve as vital learning zones for Meta to trial new services, adapt user feedback, and iterate quickly. Srinivasan noted that these insights help the company understand how to scale offerings globally.

A significant development in this monetisation journey is WhatsApp's updated pricing model introduced on July 1. The platform has shifted from a per-conversation to a per-message billing format, aligning with other global messaging channels. This change, while aimed at simplifying pricing, is expected to increase monthly costs for many businesses.

To balance this, Meta has introduced volume-based pricing tiers and made utility messages those sent in response within a 24-hour user interaction window free. Srinivasan stated that the spirit behind these updates is to “encourage great messaging experiences for your customers while still driving predictability for your business”.

Parallel to pricing reforms, Meta is broadening access to paid messaging features. Businesses can now make purchases via the Ads Manager tool, part of a shared buying system unveiled on July 1. WhatsApp had already enabled small businesses to send paid messages directly from the WhatsApp Business app last year. The company has also announced plans to introduce ads within the 'Updates' tab in the coming months, further expanding its monetisation portfolio.

Meta’s ambitions, however, come with challenges. As more businesses leverage WhatsApp for marketing, the surge in unsolicited messages and spam has become a growing concern. Acknowledging this, Srinivasan emphasized that the company is rolling out better user controls, enabling individuals to opt out of promotional messages from specific businesses. “We’ve always allowed users to block or report a business, but now we are deliberately acting on that feedback”, she said.

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Moreover, Meta is turning to artificial intelligence to refine the quality of messaging experiences. The AI-driven system aims to deliver only relevant and user-desired messages by filtering unwanted content. This not only protects user experience but also ensures businesses maintain higher engagement rates by sending messages that are truly useful.

In summary, India’s deep-rooted use of WhatsApp for both personal and business communication has positioned the country as a blueprint for Meta’s global business messaging strategy. With continued innovations like calling, revised pricing models, and AI-powered content filtering, Meta is crafting a more structured, scalable, and monetised business messaging ecosystem. And at the heart of this transformation lies a market where messaging is more than convenience it’s a cultural and commercial imperative.