Brian Acton, co-founder of popular messaging app WhatsApp, on Friday called on IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to discuss ways in which the company can contribute to India's vision for digital commerce.
Highlighting the country's importance, Acton said WhatsApp hopes to contribute more to "India's vision for digital commerce in future".
"India is a very important country to us, and we're proud to have 200 million people who use WhatsApp to connect with their friends, family and communities. We build every WhatsApp feature to be simple, reliable, and secure, and this vision is in line with what Digital India promises to achieve," he added. Acton said the company will continue to invest to help more people across India connect to its platform.
"Brian Acton, the co-founder of @WhatsApp and a fine mind in the field of information technology met me today," the Minister tweeted along with a photograph of the two after his meeting.
"I also appreciated the good role of platforms like @facebook, @WhatsApp are playing in the field of digital empowerment," Prasad added.
Earlier this week, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella was also in town to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prasad to discuss the company's digital inclusion programme that leverages technology for improving rural healthcare and education. Facebook-owned WhatsApp has almost become the default messaging application for people in countries like India and Brazil. In India, it competes with the likes of Hike, Snapchat and Viber.