WhatsApp gets a new chief from India, and India gets a bigger role at Meta
You have to wonder whether Mark Zuckerberg or Meta’s chief product officer Chris Cox first sent Kunal Shah a “Good morning” message on WhatsApp before asking him to run the app. Either way, the Cred founder’s elevation to the top job marks a rare moment when one of India’s best-known startup entrepr
By Manisha Singh
You have to wonder whether Mark Zuckerberg or Meta’s chief product officer Chris Cox first sent Kunal Shah a “Good morning” message on WhatsApp before asking him to run the app.
Either way, the Cred founder’s elevation to the top job marks a rare moment when one of India’s best-known startup entrepreneurs takes charge of a product used by more than three billion people.Kunal Shah has spent much of his career building businesses around consumer behaviour and trust.
Now, he inherits a product that already sits at the centre of everyday life for billions of people.Meta’s decision to hand the reins of WhatsApp to the Cred founder is more than a high-profile executive appointment.
It signals where the company sees its next growth engine and underlines the increasing importance of India to Meta’s ambitions, both as a market and as a testing ground for new products.Shah takes over at a pivotal moment for WhatsApp.
Nearly 12 years after Meta paid $19 billion for the messaging app, the company is still figuring out how to turn its scale into a business that goes beyond advertising.
With over three billion monthly users globally and India accounting for its biggest audience, WhatsApp has become too important to remain merely a utility.Industry estimates peg WhatsApp’s user base in India at more than 600 million.
In many ways, the app has become a proxy for internet penetration in the country.
From neighbourhood stores and doctors to schools and government agencies, WhatsApp has evolved into the default layer through which Indians communicate, transact and increasingly consume services.That ubiquity has made India central to Meta’s monetisation plans.
Business messaging, which allows companies to communicate with customers over WhatsApp, has emerged as one of Meta’s fastest-growing businesses.
The company said earlier this year that paid messaging had crossed a $2 billion annualised revenue run rate.
India, one would believe, contributes a sizeable portion of that growth, being the biggest market for WhatsApp.
The company has also used India as a laboratory for several WhatsApp products, ranging from business tools and AI agents to citizen-service initiatives with state governments.
Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Tamil Nadu have all experimented with WhatsApp-based public service delivery systems.Shah's appointment comes as Meta attempts to build entirely new revenue streams around the messaging platform.
Advertising in WhatsApp’s Updates tab, Channels, subscriptions and commerce are all still in their early stages.
Payments remain another unfinished piece of the puzzle.Despite years of effort, WhatsApp Pay continues to lag rivals such as PhonePe and Google Pay.
While the platform has crossed 150 million monthly UPI transactions, its market share remains below one percent.
Meta has increasingly shifted towards positioning WhatsApp as a broader commerce layer where transactions can happen through UPI, cards and net banking rather than relying solely on payments market share.The appointment also carries strategic significance beyond products and revenue.Meta has found itself under growing regulatory and legal scrutiny in India.
The company continues to battle concerns over privacy, data sharing and competition.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly questioned WhatsApp and Meta over data practices, warning that citizens' privacy cannot be compromised for commercial interests.
Separately, the Competition Commission of India has scrutinised WhatsApp's privacy policy changes and Meta's dominance in digital markets.Having one of India's best-known entrepreneurs at the helm of WhatsApp could help Meta navigate that environment better.
Shah enjoys credibility within India's startup ecosystem, maintains strong relationships across industry and policy circles, and understands the nuances of the market in a way few Silicon Valley executives do.
While regulatory challenges are unlikely to disappear, Meta now has a leader capable of speaking both the language of Menlo Park and that of New Delhi.The bet appears straightforward for Zuckerberg and Meta.
Advertising built the company, but messaging, AI and commerce are expected to define its next chapter.
And if that chapter is written with India at its centre, Shah may be the executive best placed to tell the story.WhatsApp's biggest challenge is no longer acquiring users.
It already has them.
The challenge is turning that unprecedented scale into a sustainable business without losing the simplicity that made the app indispensable in the first place.That balancing act now belongs to Kunal Shah.Get the latest technology news and updates.
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