WhatsApp to launch insurance and pension products

WhatsApp is mulling to launch health insurance and other pension-related products in India soon. As part of this, it is planning to tie-up with financial services players.

WhatsApp has a huge user base in India. It has as many as 400 million users in the country. Hence, the social media messaging app wants to make use of them to promote its business activities. Earlier, WhatsApp started payments services in the country.

Now, it wants to extend its business. That’s why it is working to associate with leading financial institutions to roll out insurance and pension products.

Abhijit Bose, head of India for WhatsApp said that the company would launch micro-pension and insurance products by the end of this year. It has decided to partner with SBI General Insurance to offer health insurance plans at a reasonable price.

He added that insurance products like life and health will help people meet unforeseen expenses and provide them with financial security.

Besides, WhatsApp is planning to offer micro-pension products for which it has partnered with HDFC Pension Management. In addition to that, retirement plans are also offered in association with PinBox. WhatsApp aims to provide these plans to all users across the country irrespective of their income.

As healthcare expenses are increasing due to the prevalent conditions, many people are opting for insurance products.

PC Kandpal, CEO of SBI General, said that they want to provide customized and sachet health insurance products to people and ease the distribution channel.

In this regard, Sumit Shukla, CEO of HDFC Pension Management, said that WhatsApp is a secure platform and it tries to revolutionize the financial services.

Meanwhile, PhonePe, a digital wallet platform, claimed that it processed more than 11 million insurance premiums on its platform in the last year.

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