India, July 11 -- The ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity) is working on common standards for messaging platforms operating in India, as it moves to formally oppose WhatsApp's proposed username feature over concerns that it could fuel impersonation, online fraud and digital arrest scams while making law enforcement investigations more difficult, a government official familiar with the matter told HT.

"We are not in favour of WhatsApp introducing this feature. Given its massive user base in India, usernames could make impersonation, digital arrest scams, online fraud and even investigations by law enforcement more difficult," the official said. WhatsApp has more than three billion users worldwide, and India is among ...