WhatsApp is all set to foray into India’s finance, commerce, social welfare and education sectors. The instant messaging platform is all set to roll out health insurance and micro-pension products in the country through partnerships with financial services players. At the Facebook Fuel for India 2020 event, WhatsApp India Head, Abhijit Bose said the company would partner with SBI General to launch a ‘sachet-health insurance cover’ and HDFC Pension to launch National Pension Scheme (NPS) product. In 2021, we will see WhatsApp entering various segments and also help the small businesses grow with the WhatsApp Business service.
WhatsApp to Partner with SBI General and HDFC Pension
WhatsApp’s partnership with SBI General will allow the company to provide health insurance cover, whereas the tie-up with HDFC Pension will be for providing micro-pension product. The health cover and micro-pension products will launch as part of the first phase by the end of 2020, after which other products will be unveiled in early 2021. Facebook will also enter other segments such as commerce, education and social welfare. “The ability for people to get insurance covers life and health can protect the financial security of households from unforeseen expenses especially during the pandemic,” said Abhijit Bose at the Facebook Fuel for India 2020 event. “WhatsApp has proactively been working on several pilots to help ensure that every adult has access to the most basic critical financial and livelihood services through their mobile device. By the end of this year, we expect that people will be able to buy affordable sachet-sized health insurance through WhatsApp,” Bose further added. He also mentioned that such projects would make it easier for every Indian for purchasing health insurance and micro-pensions. And it could also help in the products to be scaled to every India regardless of income and location. WhatsApp is betting big on its payments service- WhatsApp Pay that went live in the country a month ago. WhatsApp is currently offering UPI-based payments service with four banks (State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank), and it clocked 20 million transactions in November 2020. With WhatsApp Pay, Facebook is looking to provide digital and commerce solutions for SMBs. Through its partnership with Jio Platforms, Facebook will tap the 80 million SMBs and help them grow digitally. Having said that, we are excited to see what WhatsApp and Facebook have in store for Indian audience in 2021.
