New Delhi, June 24 -- When Meta's chief product officer Chris Cox reached out to Cred founder Kunal Shah, he was seeking a leader who understood daily user habits while also being capable of scaling WhatsApp globally-a critical task, given that India is the platform's largest market.

Cox described Shah as "a prolific writer and commentator" with strong, long-held views about how WhatsApp can become even more useful in people's lives. As he takes over the messaging app as its global CEO, Shah is tasked with taking the app to its "full potential" and navigating ad rollouts and monetization.

"WhatsApp recognizes that India is its biggest market globally, so there is a great chance for Meta to build commercially monetizable products in Indi...