Meta appoints Kunal Shah as global WhatsApp head, sinks $900M into CRED

Meta's twin moves anchor a WhatsApp pivot to payments, commerce and AI in India, its 3-billion-user platform's largest market. The CRED bet pits WhatsApp Pay against entrenched Google Pay and PhonePe in a UPI race it has so far lost.

— Filed Wed, 24 Jun, 2026, 21:28 IST · Source The Hindu BusinessLine · Updated

Meta appointed Kunal Shah as global head of WhatsApp and invested $900 million in CRED, signaling a push to monetise WhatsApp via payments, commerce and AI in India, its largest market.