Meta has teamed with India’s ONDC to assist smaller retailers do enterprise on WhatsApp.

The partnership with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is designed to “enable and educate small businesses in building seamless conversational buyer and seller experiences on WhatsApp through an ecosystem of our business and technical solution providers,” the social media big wrote on its blog Tuesday (Dec. 19).

Meta stated it’s going to kick off the partnership by “upskilling” micro, small and midsize enterprises (MSMEs) in India by the Meta Small Business Academy, serving to these corporations be taught digital advertising expertise to thrive on the corporate’s platforms.

“Today, for any business to grow, it is critical for them to market themselves and reach a wider audience,” stated T Koshy, managing director and CEO of ONDC. “Our partnership with Meta will not only digitally upskill these businesses but will also enable them to connect with a customer base far and wide.”

Founded final 12 months, the ONDC is an open community that makes digital commerce “platform neutral.” The community earlier this 12 months started facilitating B2B transactions.

The partnership is the newest instance of Meta boosting its WhatsApp providers in India, the place the nation enjoys an enormous buyer base. In September, the corporate introduced it might let customers make purchases directly in chats, following comparable choices in Brazil and Singapore.

“Starting today, people in India can add items to their cart and send a payment using the method of their choice from all supported UPI apps, debit and credit cards and more,” the corporate stated in that announcement. “We’re excited to be working with partners Razorpay and PayU to make paying for something as simple as sending a message.”

More than half of India’s 1 billion individuals are WhatApp customers. And as we’ve famous right here, the nation is sort of snug making cell funds, with PYMNTS intelligence exhibiting that Indian customers use digital wallets to pay for 55% of retail purchases.

“As one might expect, given India’s trailblazing nature, local consumers use more digital shopping features than their counterparts in the United States or the United Kingdom,” PYMNTS wrote earlier this 12 months. “India’s millennial, bridge millennial and Generation Z shoppers have been the country’s early adopters of these digital-first shopping experiences.”