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By:

Kiran D. Tare

21 August 2024 at 11:23:13 am

From Mumbai to Meta

Kunal Shah’s rise from city entrepreneur to global head of WhatsApp signals that India is producing genuine architects of the digital age. For much of the internet era, the world’s defining digital products were imagined in California. The next chapter looks markedly different. Artificial intelligence, digital finance and ubiquitous connectivity have flattened the distance between Silicon Valley and the rest of the world. Increasingly, the most interesting ideas are emerging not merely from...

From Mumbai to Meta

Kunal Shah’s rise from city entrepreneur to global head of WhatsApp signals that India is producing genuine architects of the digital age. For much of the internet era, the world’s defining digital products were imagined in California. The next chapter looks markedly different. Artificial intelligence, digital finance and ubiquitous connectivity have flattened the distance between Silicon Valley and the rest of the world. Increasingly, the most interesting ideas are emerging not merely from American technology giants but other countries. Few people embody that transition better than Kunal Shah. His recent appointment as the global head of WhatsApp, following Meta’s $900 million investment in CRED, represents the arrival of an Indian entrepreneur at the helm of one of the world’s most consequential digital platforms. Unlike many celebrated founders whose credentials begin with engineering degrees, Shah’s intellectual roots lie elsewhere. A graduate in philosophy from Mumbai’s Wilson College, he briefly enrolled for an MBA. However, rather than collecting qualifications, he accumulated ideas, ranging effortlessly across economics, psychology, incentives and consumer behaviour. His social-media essays and public lectures have acquired an almost cult following among entrepreneurs because they treat business less as accounting than as applied anthropology. His entrepreneurial journey mirrors India’s own digital awakening. Long before smartphones transformed everyday commerce, Shah recognised that friction was the enemy of adoption. His first venture, FreeCharge, helped familiarise millions of Indians with digital payments during a period when cash remained king. Its success made him one of the pioneers of India’s fintech revolution. Following its sale, Shah resisted the temptation to launch another fashionable startup immediately. Instead, he spent years investing in young companies, observing founders and dissecting consumer behaviour with the patience of an academic. That unusually reflective interlude shaped CRED, the company he founded in 2018 around a deceptively simple proposition that trust should carry economic value. Many regarded the idea as eccentric. Why reward consumers merely for paying their credit-card bills on time? But Shah saw something deeper. Modern economies increasingly depend upon trust and reputation. CRED transformed disciplined financial behaviour into a platform that eventually expanded into lending, commerce, insurance, wealth management and payments. Today the company serves around 17 million monthly active members, and has attracted more than $900 million from global investors. It generates annual revenues of roughly $325 million. Importantly, these figures signify that patient product thinking can triumph over fashionable exuberance. Shah’s influence extends well beyond the companies he has founded. He has become perhaps India’s most prolific angel investor, backing more than 250 startups while mentoring hundreds of entrepreneurs. His counsel has shaped businesses across sectors, while advisory roles with Peak XV Partners, Pine Labs and industry bodies have given him an outsized influence over the direction of India’s startup ecosystem. Shah has consistently argued that enduring businesses are built not on funding rounds but on understanding incentives, habits and human psychology. Those qualities explain why Meta came calling. Mark Zuckerberg praised Shah’s “builder mentality” while Meta’s Chief Product Officer, Chris Cox, highlighted his grasp of how WhatsApp fits into people’s everyday lives. That endorsement recognises that the future of messaging lies increasingly beyond messaging itself. Artificial intelligence, digital payments, commerce and business communication are converging into a single ecosystem. Few executives possess practical experience across all four domains. India offers perhaps the clearest glimpse of that future. It is WhatsApp’s largest market, its most sophisticated laboratory for business messaging and an increasingly important arena for digital payments. Shah understands this ecosystem instinctively because he helped build it. His career has unfolded alongside India’s digital public infrastructure, the smartphone revolution and the emergence of one of the world's most dynamic entrepreneurial cultures. There is something symbolically satisfying about the appointment. While technology has long celebrated engineers who solve computational problems, Shah belongs to a different tradition of the entrepreneur who begins by asking why people behave as they do. His greatest strength lies in understanding incentives, trust and networks. History suggests that the most transformative technology leaders are rarely prisoners of technology alone. They are students of people. In elevating Kunal Shah to lead WhatsApp, Meta is betting that the next era of the internet will be shaped less by algorithms than by a deeper understanding of the billions of human beings who use them. Judging by Shah’s career so far, that is a wager with every chance of paying handsome dividends.

A Paragon of Judicial Integrity

Ram Shastry Prabhune

In the 18th century, when Montesquieu, the French philosopher, argued for the separation of powers in his groundbreaking work De L'Esprit des Loix (‘The Spirit of Law’, 1748), his views were met with fierce opposition from monarchs like Louis XIV, who famously declared, “L'État, C’est Moi” (translated as ‘I am the state’).


But Montesquieu's principles gained traction in countries like England, the United States and later in India. In a remarkable parallel across time and geography, Ram Shastry Prabhune, the pioneering Indian judge, embodied Montesquieu’s ideas with a clarity that would resonate even today.


‘Ram Shastry Prabhune: An Icon of Judicial Integrity and Independence’ (2023), written by Advocate Vilas Patane and translated by Advocate Ramakant Khalap, explores the political and social landscape of Pune during the Peshwa rule, shedding light on the intrigues, conspiracies and power struggles of the time. It shows how Shastry’s vision of an independent judiciary that upholds the rights of the people above the ambitions of rulers remains as relevant today as it was in the Peshwa era. It also reveals the moral and ethical fiber that should guide every judge in their pursuit of justice.


Born in 1726, Ram Shastry served as chief justice in the court of the Peshwa in Pune, during an era dominated by political intrigue and a rigid caste system. An epitome of integrity, fearlessness and judicial excellence, Shastry’s work transcended the constraints of his time. Like Montesquieu, he believed that justice should stand above all, independent of the whims of rulers, religious authorities or societal pressures.


The British historian James Grant Duff lauded Ram Shastry for his wisdom, honesty, integrity and fearlessness - virtues that elevated him in the eyes of both contemporaries and history. In a world where the independence of the judiciary is a cornerstone of democracy, Shastry’s legacy resonates with the principles enshrined in the United Nations Resolutions of 1985 and 1990 which underscore the crucial need for a clear separation of powers.


Shastry’s most notable act of judicial courage came when he investigated the gruesome 1773 murder of Narayanrao Peshwa, holding Raghoba Dada responsible and sentencing him to death. This decision, a bold stand against a powerful figure, led Shastry to resign from his position in protest of the political interference he faced. Yet, his integrity was unshaken. Even after he withdrew into seclusion, Nana Fadnavis and Sakharam Bapu had to assure him, in writing, that no one would interfere with his future judicial duties. This moment exemplifies Shastry’s unwavering commitment to an independent judiciary, echoing Montesquieu’s belief that concentrating executive and judicial power in one person would lead to societal ruin.


Beyond his legal rulings, Shastry’s reforms underscored a progressive vision. He allowed widow remarriage, long considered taboo, and took bold steps to challenge entrenched caste hierarchies. When the Peshwa decreed that the Kayastha Prabhu caste could not perform Vedic rituals, Shastry overturned the edict, granting them the same rights as Brahmins. He reprimanded the Peshwa for neglecting duties in favour of excessive worship and forced his wife to return lavish gifts from the Peshwa’s wife, demonstrating his commitment to fairness.


Shastry’s work extended far beyond the courtroom. A scholar of ancient texts, including the Manu Smriti and the Arthashastra, he balanced respect for tradition with a belief that laws must evolve with society.


His famous act of allowing an imposter to present his case despite widespread disbelief in the fraud. This was testament to his adherence to the principle of Audi Alteram Partem (‘Let the other side be heard’). It wasn’t just about the facts of the case but about ensuring that justice was served impartially.


Ram Shastry Prabhune’s legacy is not just one of judicial courage, but of a commitment to justice that transcended his time. His fearlessness in holding powerful figures accountable, his advocacy for the rights of marginalized communities, and his progressive stance on issues like widow remarriage and caste discrimination marked him as a visionary in an age that rarely allowed for such radical ideas to take root.


The book not only chronicles Shastry’s remarkable career but also reflects on the judicial practices of the Peshwa era, offering readers a glimpse into the legal and administrative challenges of the time. It shows how Ram Shastry’s vision for a fair, just, and independent judiciary was ahead of its time.


(The author is librarian at the Jitendra Chauhan College of Law, Mumbai.)

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