Q&A: Facebook India MD Ajit Mohan On How To Reach The Next 800 Mn Indians

Facebook, along with WhatsApp and Instagram now has a user base of about 400 million in India. Now how does it plan to tap the next 800 million. In this exclusive interview, Facebooks India Managing Director Ajit Mohan discusses the social media giant’s plans in the country with Surajeet Das Gupta. Edited excerpts:

How do you plan to reach the next 800 million people in India?

• Telecom operators doing the real hard work
• Facebook, WhatsApp first use cases when people start using data
• We're building products that are inclusive

You now have 3-4 different platforms. How do you integrate and monetise?

• Facebook, Instagram help companies reach consumers with affinity towards their products
• Easy to find potential customers across geographies, ticket sizes
• We help companies starting up to discover potential and then scale up

How do you choose companies to put equity in?

• Invested in Meesho and Upgrad quite early in their journey
• Open to more minority investments in India
• There could be more announcements; not looking at a particular sector

How is your payment business going?

• Going slow and steady on WhatsApp payments
• Want to make sure we get the experience right
• Making payments should be as easy and sending a message

How’s your relationship with Reliance panning out in terms of integrations?

• We have a great partnership
• Alignment in values and belief in the power of the internet
• We'll have exciting things to share in the next few months