Even as WhatsApp continues to deal with security and privacy related issues in India, the instant messaging app has reported Rs 6.84 crore revenue for the first time in 2019. The Facebook-owned company reported a profit of Rs 57.18 lakh for the current fiscal. According to a RoC filing, WhatsApp has reported a revenue of Rs 6.84 crore earned through IT-enabled business process and outsourcing services in the same period. To recall, the platform had reported a loss of Rs 5 lakh and it had zero revenues in FY18.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

WhatsApp expenses including business operations and salaries for the year stood at Rs 5.99 crore. Out of this, Rs 3.43 crore were spent on employees salaries and Rs 1.3 crore in business promotion, legal and professional fees. The profit has been reported about 15 months after WhatsApp had introduced WhatsApp Business in India, a platform that allows businesses to communicate with their customers.

In India, almost 10 lakh businesses use the WhatsApp Business app, whereas 50 lakh businesses are using the app across the world. Using this platform, small business enterprises (SME) can also  communicate with clients and grow their business. The platform allows users to browse photos, read the product description and look up prices, helping with better purchase decisions.

WATCH Zee Business TV LIVE Streaming Online -

In early November, it had rolled out a ‘Catalogs’ feature to allow enterprises to showcase photographs of various products to potential customers. Notably, India is the largest market for WhatsApp with a user base of 400 million. The company is consistently trying to increase the user base by coming up with new features.

It also planned to introduced WhatsApp Payments service in India, which has been put hold for now for not being compliant with data localisation norms in the country.