Facebook-owned short messaging App, WhatsApp said it expects to facilitate the purchase of affordable sachet-sized health insurance through its platform by the end of the year as part of its efforts to provide users in India with greater access to financial solutions.

The Facebook-owned company noted that its “Payments” feature is now available to users across the country (currently up to 20 million users) with support from banking partners – State Bank of India, HDFC, ICICI and Axis Bank.

“WhatsApp is deeply committed to India with over 400 million active users, this is our largest market. Our primary focus will always be to provide the most simple, reliable, private and secure experience for people to connect with each other. However, in India we are also building on four other pillars,” WhatsApp India Head Abhijit Bose said.

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He added that WhatsApp wants to help further digitise and scale the small business ecosystem of India, make it easier for consumers to connect with and buy from their favourite businesses, and build digital payments across all segments, especially for underserved users in India.

It will also continue to deepen its investments in India by developing and scaling social impact programs, he said.

“WhatsApp has proactively been working on several pilots to help ensure that every adult has access to the most basic critical financial and livelihood services through their mobile device. By the end of this year, we expect that people will be able to buy affordable sachet sized health insurance through WhatsApp,” Bose said.