WhatsApp, the flagship messaging application owned by Meta that has become an inseparable part of the daily routine for millions of Indians, is confronting a pivotal juncture in its operations within India. The platform, long regarded as digital infrastructure in both personal and professional communication, now faces significant uncertainty as a consequence of newly issued governmental directives that could fundamentally alter how the service functions for average users, entrepreneurs, and enterprises alike.
These recently released directives—formulated at the end of last month and publicly disclosed earlier in the current month—require certain application-based communication services to maintain a persistent link between user accounts and a verified, active SIM card. Furthermore, the instructions introduce stricter oversight regarding the way such applications synchronize and operate across multiple devices. Officials in New Delhi justify these measures as essential tools in the ongoing campaign to curb India’s escalating crisis of online financial crime and cyber-enabled fraud, which have plagued the world’s most populous nation. Nevertheless, leading experts in digital policy, representatives from online advocacy organizations, and industry groups representing major technology ecosystems—including Meta itself—have expressed strong concern. They warn that the new policy framework may extend beyond necessary regulation, leading to possible overreach that could inadvertently stifle legitimate usage patterns and disrupt everyday commerce. This is particularly critical in a nation where WhatsApp has evolved from a simple chat tool into a social and commercial backbone supporting microbusinesses, neighborhood shops, and customers across urban and rural India alike.
According to the official directions, communication service providers such as Meta’s WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal must adapt their systems to these requirements within ninety days of November 28, the date of issuance. The mandate stipulates that each account must remain continuously tied to the same SIM card used for registration. Furthermore, on non‑mobile platforms such as web or desktop versions, users will now be compelled to log out at six-hour intervals and then manually relink their devices by scanning a QR code if they wish to regain access. The Telecom Ministry emphasized in an explanatory release earlier this month that such mandatory, ongoing binding between SIM and device—as well as the requirement for periodic session renewal—will guarantee that all active accounts and browser sessions remain directly connected to live, know-your-customer (KYC)-verified mobile numbers. This approach, the ministry argued, would restore traceability to digital identities involved in increasingly common cybercrimes, including phishing schemes, investment fraud, so‑called “digital arrest” scams, and deceptive online loan offers. The ministry further disclosed that India collectively lost over ₹228 billion (roughly equivalent to $2.5 billion) to cyber-fraud schemes in 2024 alone, underscoring the gravity of the situation. To mitigate confusion, government officials have clarified that these directives will not apply to users when a SIM card remains physically inside the device and the user is merely roaming away from their primary network coverage area.
While the regulations cover a wide spectrum of instant-messaging providers, it is widely anticipated that WhatsApp—India’s most dominant messaging service with an estimated user base exceeding 500 million individuals—will experience the most immediate and pronounced effects. The app’s penetration in India is remarkably deep and near-universal. As of November, approximately 94% of Indian WhatsApp users opened the app daily, and about 67% of WhatsApp Business account holders did the same, according to analysis from Sensor Tower data shared with TechCrunch. By comparison, daily engagement in the United States reached only 59% for ordinary users and 57% for WhatsApp Business, a disparity that highlights both the scale and cultural integration of the platform in India.
A substantial portion of India’s micro-entrepreneurial ecosystem depends upon WhatsApp Business, a specialized smartphone version of the broader service designed for small enterprises. Merchants commonly register these accounts on mobile numbers linked to dedicated SIM cards, then manage customer inquiries and transactions through WhatsApp’s web or desktop interface on separate computing devices. Unlike larger corporations that rely on WhatsApp’s Business APIs to automate messaging or integrate communication into CRMs, smaller merchants handle interactions manually using this web companion environment. The newly mandated SIM-based verification and enforced six-hour logouts may interrupt these workflows, complicating routine tasks such as order tracking, responding to customer queries, or maintaining active support channels. Such disruptions pose significant risks to operational continuity for countless small ventures that depend on WhatsApp as an alternative to a formal e-commerce system.
The timing of these governmental directives is particularly consequential. Over recent years, WhatsApp has been steadily expanding its multi‑device and companion‑device functionalities, which were explicitly designed to liberate users from dependence on a single, always-active smartphone. By enhancing connectivity across multiple devices such as laptops, tablets, and browsers, the company aimed to strengthen both convenience and business usability. These new requirements threaten to limit that flexibility precisely at a time when the platform’s technological evolution has been focused on cross-device accessibility and persistence.
This policy intervention also coincides with a broader maturity phase in WhatsApp’s Indian growth trajectory. In its largest market globally, the platform has entered a stage where sustained engagement increasingly arises from retaining existing users rather than recruiting new ones. According to Sensor Tower data shared with TechCrunch, while the number of monthly active users (MAU) on mobile devices rose by 6% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, the number of fresh downloads dropped significantly—nearly 49%. Comparing with late 2022, monthly active users have expanded by 24%, even though downloads have fallen by 14% during the same interval. As Sensor Tower’s senior insights analyst Abraham Yousef noted, such metrics indicate that growth in India now depends more upon the successful re‑engagement of returning or previously lapsed users than on the rapid acquisition of first-time users.
Parallel data from Appfigures reinforces this transition by showing that since early 2024, WhatsApp Business has consistently achieved higher numbers of first-time installations compared with the standard Messenger version. This trend points to increasing adoption among merchants and traders who use WhatsApp as a direct digital storefront. Randy Nelson, head of insights at Appfigures, explained that this shift mirrors prevailing usage behavior across India, where business owners often maintain distinct WhatsApp profiles for personal and professional use, frequently aided by dual‑SIM smartphones. A single business can therefore generate multiple installations and active user accounts across shop employees and devices.
Further corroborating evidence from Sensor Tower shows that while the ordinary Messenger version of WhatsApp has grown by roughly 34% since 2021, WhatsApp Business’s active user base in India surged by more than 130% over the same period, highlighting the platform’s expanding role in the informal economy. Despite the soaring adoption of WhatsApp Business, user engagement levels still skew toward the regular version: Indian users spend approximately 38 minutes per day on WhatsApp, compared with an average of 27 minutes for WhatsApp Business. Interestingly, U.S. engagement patterns invert this ratio, with American users dedicating around 23 minutes daily to WhatsApp and about 27 minutes to WhatsApp Business—a contrast revealing differing usage cultures across markets.
Amid this complex backdrop, India’s new directions have triggered vigorous debate on their technical feasibility and legal soundness. The Broadband India Forum (BIF)—an industry association whose membership roster includes major players such as Meta—issued a statement last week calling the measures potentially disruptive. BIF argued that these requirements may cause significant inconvenience and functional impairment for everyday users and pose challenges at a technical implementation level. Likewise, Kazim Rizvi, founding director of the New Delhi-based policy think tank The Dialogue, noted that the directives derive from a recently introduced and still-contested reclassification of Telecommunication Identifier User Entities (TIUEs) under national telecom cybersecurity policies. By categorizing over‑the‑top messaging platforms like WhatsApp as telecom entities, Rizvi warned, the government effectively modifies their regulatory standing from the scope of the Information Technology Act into that of the Telecommunication Act—achieving such a transformation through executive direction rather than parliamentary legislation. As he observed, these directions do not stem from constitutional law but from delegated authority, and the absence of public consultations or expert technical evaluations increases the risk of compliance hurdles while potentially failing to address the root causes of cyber‑fraud.
India’s telecommunications ministry has thus far refrained from public comment on these concerns. Policy analysts underscore that companies like Meta currently have limited legal pathways to contest the measures in court. As Dhruv Garg, a technology policy advisor and partner at the Indian Governance and Policy Project, explained, challenging such mandates typically demands evidence that the directives exceed their statutory scope or infringe constitutional rights—an especially demanding standard under Indian jurisprudence. For now, Meta has chosen not to issue an official comment regarding the matter, suggesting a wait‑and‑see approach as the industry collectively navigates one of the most consequential regulatory tests in the history of digital communication in India.
Sourse: https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/14/whatsapps-biggest-market-is-becoming-its-toughest-test/
