Reliance views the integration with WhatsApp’s recently approved payments system as a crucial step in the development of its online shopping services, the people said. The companies are working together as Reliance’s e-commerce platforms look to tap hundreds of millions of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram users.
Ambani’s biggest challenge now is to earn a return on these investments, said James Crabtree, author of “The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India’s New Gilded Age.”