The Head of WhatsApp Pay India payment business, Manesh Mahatme, has quit and is joining Amazon India as Director of Products.
WhatsApp in a statement said Mahatme played an important role in expanding access to WhatsApp payments in India, adding the payments service was “a priority for Meta and we will continue to innovate and drive momentum as part of our broader efforts.”
Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.
During his stint at WhatsApp Pay, the company won regulatory approval to more than double its payments offering to 100 million users in India, its biggest market with more than half a billion users overall.
Manesh has joined as director of products in the e-commerce division of Amazon in India, the source said.
Manesh Mahatme’s exit comes at a critical time for Whatsapp. As the company is seeking to ramp up its payments service in a highly competitive market and lock horns with more established payers such as Alphabet Inc’s Google Pay, Ant Group-backed Paytm, and Walmart’s PhonePe.
Earlier, he has been associated with Airtel as GM – Product & Marketing, Airtel Money. Previously, he worked with Mashreqbank and Citibank.
Manesh is an alumnus of SPJIMR SP Jain Institute of Management & Research. He is a graduate of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani.
