Meta’s revised pricing for the WhatsApp Business Platform took effect on October 1. Indian businesses will now pay for customer service messages.

Under the new rate card, service replies inside the 24-hour customer window are billed after a monthly free allowance of 1,000 messages per business phone number.

The utility rate for India is Rs 0.115 per delivered message, excluding GST. Utility templates sent inside the 24-hour window are also now billed.

Marketing messages cost Rs 0.8631 per message in India. The change ends the era of unlimited free customer support conversations on the API.

Regular WhatsApp users are not affected. The standard WhatsApp Business app used by local merchants is also unchanged.

Companies that rely on chatbots will feel the pinch most. Meta advises sending fewer, more detailed messages instead of long chains of short texts. Authentication messages like one-time passwords also cost Rs 0.115 per message before GST. Messages that customers send to businesses remain free, and undelivered messages are not charged.