Jio customers will soon be able to recharge their phones or make payments by using WhatsApp, Reliance Jio and Meta (formerly Facebook) said on Wednesday. Jio Platforms Ltd Director Akash Ambani today said that Jio and Meta are working closely together to open more avenues via this collaboration.
“And one such avenue is Jio on WhatsApp, which is simplifying the entire ‘prepaid recharge’ which will be rolled out very soon. This will bring consumers convenience as they’ve never had before,” said Akash Ambani while speaking at Meta’s Fuel for India 2021 event.
This feature will likely be available in 2022. And contribute to making the process of recharging simple, especially for older citizens who at times find it difficult to step out and recharge.
“It is really exciting how the end-to-end experience for Recharge through WhatsApp along with the ability to make payments can potentially make the lives of millions of Jio subscribers much more convenient,” said Isha Ambani, Director, Jio Platforms.
In the quarter ended September, there were 429.5 million Jio users. In April 2020, Meta (then Facebook) had announced investing of $5.7 billion ( ₹43,574 crore) in Jio Platforms.
The firms also discussed collaborating with JioMart to improve the shopping and commerce experience in India by utilising WhatsApp’s communication and payment infrastructure.
Today, Akash Ambani said that JioMart is expanding and now has over half a million stores. He expressed his continuous enthusiasm for Jio’s collaboration with Meta.
“And in collaboration with the WhatsApp team, we intend to build out native features that will not only help users shop seamlessly on WhatsApp but will also help retailers increase stock assortments, improve margins and get them closer to perhaps a larger base of customers, like never before,” he said.