More Indian banks will offer WhatsApp-based services to customers as they plan to expand their services in rural areas and to lower income people. ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank have already tied up with WhatsApp and have been offering WhatsApp-based services to their customers, which includes facility for the bank to communicate with customers via automated text messages. WhatsApp’s India Country Head Abhijit Bose said the company wants to open up with more banks over this coming year to help simplify and expand banking services, especially to the rural and lower-income segments. WhatsApp will also expand pilot projects with banking and other partners to cover financial services such as pensions and insurance, he added. WhatsApp has its own payments service in a limited way and is awaiting regulatory clearances on issues such as data localization, ahead of a fully-fledged launch.