India playing key role in designing new Facebook products

NEW DELHI: Social media giant Facebook on Wednesday said that India is playing a crucial role in designing its products ranging from the launch of Reels on Instagram and Watch on Facebook and Payments on WhatsApp for the global market. 

“The largest communities for Facebook and WhatsApp are in India and Instagram is getting there. This makes India a key market to test and roll our new features from here,” the company said. In November, WhatsApp received approval from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to roll out its payments services in the country, while Instagram has successfully attracted a large chunk kfy TikTok users after its access was banned by the Centre earlier this year. 

“What happens in India is important for the whole world. India’s building local capabilities and tech capacity to power innovative new business models and provide the citizens access to digital financial inclusion. So, decisions that are made here shape the global discussion about how technology can drive more economic opportunity and better outcomes for people, said Founder, Chairman and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg. He also held a chat session with Reliance boss Mukesh Ambani and discussed India’s digital transformation. In April, Facebook had announced investment of $5.7 billion (Rs 43,574 crore) in Jio Platforms.

“WhatsApp and Jio have hundreds of millions of subscribers in India. Jio Mart, which is our retail service, has the aspiration of serving tens of millions of small shopkeepers in India, who are the bedrock of employment. So what does this mean? This means Jio brings digital connectivity, WhatsApp now with WhatsApp Pay brings digital interactivity, and the ability to move to close transactions and Jio Mart brings the unmatched online and offline retail opportunity,” said Ambani.