Vinay Choletti quits as WhatsApp Pay India head

Vinay Choletti stepped down from the post of WhatsApp Pay India's head after a short stint. Choletti, who took over the role from Manesh Mahatme, made this announcement on Linkedin. He wrote, “Today was my last day at WhatsApp Pay and as I sign off, I can proudly say that watching the scale and the influence of WhatsApp in India has been a humbling experience.”

Choletti joined WhatsApp Pay in October 2021 as the head of merchant payments before taking on the role of India head in September this year. Under his leadership, WhatsApp Pay rolled out the facility for the messaging app users to buy single-journey tickets on Bengaluru’s Namma Metro directly on their smartphones through WhatsApp. “I am humbled to see the customer adoption of novel use cases using WhatsApp Pay and I will wear these badges proudly for the rest of my life,” Choletti wrote in his LinkedIn post. He has not mentioned his next move. An IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, Choletti has worked previously with Amazon, Mashreq Bank, Citi Bank, and American Express among others. 

WhatsApp is yet to issue a statement regarding Choletti’s resignation and who would succeed him. WhatsApp was acquired by the social media platform Meta (previously Facebook) in 2014 for $22 billion.

In the last few months, several senior executives have exited Meta India. In November, WhatsApp India head Abhijit Bose and India public policy head Rajiv Agarwal stepped down from their respective positions. Before that Ajit Mohan quit his role as Meta India head.