At its second annual WhatsApp Business Summit in Mumbai, the messaging giant unveiled a suite of tools designed to help businesses streamline customer interactions, boost discoverability, and improve support. The updates reinforce WhatsApp’s role as both a consumer app and a critical digital infrastructure for businesses and government services in India.
Small businesses can now accept payments directly within WhatsApp, with QR codes enabling instant transactions. This feature is aimed at helping sellers close sales faster and more securely.
WhatsApp is also rolling out in-app calling for businesses, letting users call customer service representatives or receive requested calls from larger companies. Voice and video calls will soon be supported, making WhatsApp a tool for industries such as telehealth and advanced customer support. Meta also confirmed that Business AI will work with these calls, allowing companies to scale support with virtual assistants.
With the new Centralised Campaigns in Ads Manager, businesses in India can now create and manage ads across WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram from one dashboard. The feature leverages Meta’s AI to optimise budgets and performance across placements.
The Status tab, used by over 1.5 billion people daily, is getting ad integrations. Brands like Maruti Suzuki, Air India, and Flipkart are already running ads in Status, while popular creators and channels, including Jio Hotstar, are using promoted features. Ads and promotions will stay separate from personal chats and inboxes.
“We have been using WhatsApp extensively for driving business growth. Ads on WhatsApp Status will further help us drive discovery and sales of our products and services,” said Bhuvan Dheer, Executive Director, Marketing, Maruti Suzuki India Limited.
Air India’s CMO Sunil Suresh added, “WhatsApp’s new Ads in status offering aligns with Air India’s vision of digital-first transformation, where advertising is not just about visibility, but about fostering real-time connections and elevating customer journeys.”
WhatsApp is also strengthening its role in public service delivery. State governments in Odisha, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu are working with WhatsApp to offer citizen service chatbots. Andhra Pradesh’s “Mana Mitra” chatbot already provides access to over 700 services in multiple regional languages, used by 4 million citizens so far.
“Every day, businesses of all sizes are leveraging WhatsApp to deliver faster and more impactful customer experiences. With our latest tools and features, we are confident that businesses will unlock stronger ROI, build deeper and more personal connections with customers, and scale successfully,” said Arun Srinivas, Managing Director & Country Head, Meta India.
Small businesses can now run the WhatsApp Business App and Business Platform simultaneously with the same number. This gives them flexibility to handle automation and high message volumes while maintaining day-to-day interactions such as group chats and calls.
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