we want anything you do on WhatsApp to be as simple as sending a message. Too many things start in a chat and end with many more steps somewhere else: paying a bill, borrowing money, staying connected when you travel. Each handoff to another task costs time. We’re working with financial services and telecom partners so that finishing something feels as easy as starting it.

Kunal Shah

I think this is a dangerous path. Whatsapp is what it is because it is simple and easy and not complicated. It seems Kunal wants WhatsApp to become like WeChat – the chinese “everything” app.

India is not a monolithic like china. WhatsApp already has too much things going on to confuse a 70+ year old Indian. This is an important customer demographic for WhatsApp as all Indians know how much our parents and grandparents use WhatsApp.

Adding Commerce features will make it super annoying and will turn off lot of users. Of course all depends upon how smartly the User Interface of WhatsApp is made so as to not disturb the already good thing going on with this app that is beloved by billions of people.

Look at Apple. If you see the first iPhone released in 2007 and iPhone 18 released in 2026, the User Interface will look very similar. Apple understands that people don’t like when you change User Interface too much.

A plain grid of icons of iPhone has remained untouched for 20 years, Mr. Shah can keep the interface of WhatsApp untouched as he adds more features smartly.

I say, measure twice and cut once when adding features to the app that is the most beloved app in India and used by every one….and by everyone, i mean literally everyone.