WhatsApp has become a critical customer communication tool for Indian businesses, especially for order updates, delivery alerts, customer support and marketing. From October 1, however, companies that rely heavily on the WhatsApp Business Platform will have to account for a new recurring messaging cost.
Meta has revised the pricing structure for the WhatsApp Business Platform, making service messages chargeable once businesses cross a monthly free quota. The changes apply to companies using WhatsApp through solution providers as well as those integrated directly with the platform.
Under the new pricing, every business phone number in India gets 1,000 service messages free each month. Once that limit is exhausted, businesses will have to pay ₹0.115 for every delivered service message.
Meta has also said that there will be no volume-based discounts for these service messages.
Service messages are responses sent by businesses after a customer starts a conversation. When a customer sends a message, a 24-hour customer service window opens. During this period, businesses can respond using human agents, automated systems or third-party AI tools.
Until September 30, these messages were not subject to Meta’s messaging charges. From October 1, only the first 1,000 messages per business phone number every month remain free.
The revised pricing also affects utility messages. These are typically transactional messages such as order confirmations, payment updates, shipping alerts and delivery tracking information.
In India, Meta will charge ₹0.115 for every delivered utility message. The charge can apply even when the message is sent during an active 24-hour customer service window.
This could raise communication costs for e-commerce firms, retailers and service businesses that send large volumes of automated updates through WhatsApp.
Authentication messages, including verification-related messages and one-time passwords, are also priced at ₹0.115 per delivered message in India.
Marketing messages remain significantly more expensive at ₹0.8631 per delivered message.
The published rates are Meta’s platform charges and may not include taxes or additional fees levied by third-party WhatsApp Business solution providers.
Businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform also need to ensure that a valid payment method is linked to their account.
Meta had warned that businesses without a payment method on file by September 30 could face restrictions on sending service messages once the new pricing became effective.
For companies that use WhatsApp as a major support or transaction channel, keeping payment details updated has therefore become essential.
For large companies, ₹0.115 per message may look small. But the cost can add up quickly for businesses sending tens of thousands of customer service and utility messages every month.
Small and medium-sized businesses that depend almost entirely on WhatsApp for customer support, order tracking and after-sales communication may feel the impact more sharply.
The pricing change could also push businesses to review whether every automated notification is necessary and how customer communication is distributed across WhatsApp, SMS, email and other channels.
The change applies to businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform. Regular WhatsApp users sending personal messages are not affected.
The pricing revision also does not mean that every message sent through the basic WhatsApp Business app will automatically attract a charge.
Meta’s AI-powered Business Agent follows a different pricing model. Meta prices Business Agent usage at $2 per one million tokens processed by the AI system. Businesses using the AI agent could therefore face AI-processing charges in addition to WhatsApp messaging charges where applicable.
For Indian businesses, the October 1 change marks a shift from largely free customer-service messaging to a usage-based model. Companies with high message volumes will now need to factor WhatsApp communication into their monthly operating costs.
