WhatsApp said on Monday it has hired Manesh Mahatme to head the payments division in India. WhatsApp Pay received approval to operate from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) last November.
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Mahatme has over 17 years of experience in digital financial services and payments across Citibank, Airtel Money and Amazon. He worked as the Director and Board member of Amazon Pay India for nearly seven years where he led growth, product and engineering teams.
Digital payments have grown popular with UPI transactions increasing over 90% in February, compared to the previous year. UPI payments now account for more than 70% of all digital transactions. At present, Google Pay, Walmart’s PhonePe and Paytm capture majority of the UPI market share
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"We are excited to have Manesh join our WhatsApp India team. Manesh has been one of key innovators driving the growth of digital payments in India over the last decade, and his experience will help us maximize the impact and scale of payments on WhatsApp," said Abhijit Bose, Head of WhatsApp in India.
