Vinay Choletti, head of WhatsApp’s payments business in India, has left the company within four months in that role, the latest in a string of domestic senior-level departures at parent company Meta Platform.
“When I move on to my next adventure, I firmly believe in it Whatsapp has the power to phenomenally transform digital payments and financial inclusion in India and I look forward to seeing it fulfill its potential in the years to come,” Choletti continued LinkedIn late Tuesday.
Meta has experienced a number of changes in management positions in recent months. WhatsApp India boss Abhijit Bose, Meta public policy director Rajiv Aggarwal and Meta India boss Ajit Mohan resigned in November.
Meta did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Choletti took over WhatsAppPay in India following Manesh Mahatme’s exit in September to join Amazon.
Before joining WhatsApp Pay in October 2021 as head of merchant payments, Choletti had worked at Amazon for seven years, according to his LinkedIn profile.
WhatsApp, Meta’s messaging service, is trying to attract more Indians to its peer-to-peer payment service as it tries to break into a highly competitive market and compete with more established payers such as India alphabet‘s Google PayAnt Group-supported Paytm and Walmart‘s PhonePe.
Meta has been in the midst of massive layoffs over the past month, cutting more than 11,000 jobs, or 13 percent of its workforce Facebook parent doubled down on its Metaverse bet amid a crumbling advertising market and decades of inflation.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
