WhatsApp payment business head quits after 18 months

WhatsApp's payment business head Manesh Mahatme has quit the company after nearly 18 months, Meta's spokesperson said in a statement.

"Manesh has played an important role in expanding the access to 'payments on WhatsApp' in India, and we wish him every success for his future endeavours," the spokesperson added.

YourStory had earlier reported the news of Mahatme's exit citing a source familiar with the matter. The source said that Mahatme could return to his former employer, Amazon, where he headed its payments business as director and board member for nearly seven years.

His LinkedIn profile indicates that he left WhatsApp Pay as its head and director in September, a year and six months after he took on the position in April 2021.

According to the source, Mahatme could join Amazon India's ecommerce division.

WhatsApp Pay's journey in India so far

WhatsApp Pay recently won regulatory approval from the National Payments Corp of India (NPCI) to expand its user base in the country. The green light from NPCI helped it become one of the largest payments players in India, competing with the likes of Google Pay and PhonePe.

Mahatme has played an instrumental role in the growth of WhatsApp's payments business in India, focusing not only on scaling the service, but also enhancing the payments experience for users, as well as making WhatsApp Pay financially inclusive. Neither WhatsApp India not Meta were immediately available for comments. Mahatme's replacement has not been announced yet.

The BITS Pilani graduate has nearly two decades of experience in digital financial services and payments across Citibank, Airtel Money, and Amazon. He was responsible for building and scaling the payment experience and platform for Amazon India’s marketplace business.

The news was first reported by Reuters and Moneycontrol.

(This story was updated with WhatsApp's official confirmation.)