Meta Executive Ravi Garg on WhatsApp Business Bridging India’s Digital Divide
With WhatsApp Business, Meta has focused on business messaging as a key strategy to bridge the digital divide between businesses and consumers in India. Ravi Garg, Director of Business Messaging at Meta India, highlighted that out of approximately 750 million mobile internet users, only around 200 million are digitally savvy. Garg emphasized that Meta sees a significant opportunity to enhance digital interactions in the country.
In an interview with indianexpress.com, Garg elaborated on the company’s strategy to address this gap. “Many businesses, over the last five to six years, have recognized the power of conversation with WhatsApp and have started adopting it,” he said. He revealed that about a billion people engage with businesses weekly on WhatsApp, with 600 million daily interactions. Despite these impressive figures, Garg insists that this is just the beginning, and Meta has much more to achieve.
Enhancing WhatsApp Business Features
To improve user experience, WhatsApp Business has introduced various features over time. These include rich media capabilities, Flows for complex interactions like booking tickets or making reservations, native payment integration, automated customer service solutions, and support for 13 Indian languages.
“If you want to buy something from a website, that website can now generate a catalogue on WhatsApp and provide a full shopping experience, including native payments. If you want to book a movie ticket, you can pick your seat directly on WhatsApp,” Garg explained. He also mentioned that WhatsApp Business will soon support voice calling, allowing users to switch from text to voice communication.
Additionally, Meta plans to integrate AI capabilities into WhatsApp Business. Garg noted that AI will be transformative for conversations, especially in markets like India where users may not be tech-savvy or comfortable typing in English. “They’ll be able to use voice in their local language, and AI will interpret what they want, get the right information from the business, and send it back,” he said.
However, Garg emphasized that businesses need to use the tool appropriately. “Some businesses think of WhatsApp as SMS and want to send multiple messages. This doesn’t work because users don’t want spam on WhatsApp. Businesses need to learn to personalize every conversation and create cohorts of their customers to send relevant messages,” he explained.
WhatsApp as a Business Tool
Meta offers solutions tailored to different business segments. It focuses on two main solutions: the WhatsApp Business Platform for large and mid-sized enterprises requiring extensive automation, and the WhatsApp Small Business App designed for small businesses with simpler needs. Both platforms aim to facilitate rich, two-way conversations between businesses and customers.
Garg shared several success stories from businesses using WhatsApp Business. Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance reported a 14% increase in new policy leads after using business messaging to drive insurance renewals and engagements. W, a clothing brand, built an AI agent on WhatsApp that allowed customers to try on clothes by clicking a selfie, resulting in a 65% increase in engagement.
Addressing Privacy Concerns
Data privacy is a significant concern with digital messaging platforms. When asked about privacy on WhatsApp Business, Garg explained, “Every message on WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted, including business messages. Even Meta cannot read these messages.”
Garg also emphasized that user consent is mandatory. “Opt-ins are mandatory – no business can reach out to a user unless the user has given consent. We conduct a strong verification process before businesses can join our platform. Users can block or report businesses, and if we see a significant number of reports, we take action,” he said.
