“No, you cannot reach out to a customer on your own and take consent on Whatsapp,” Gaurav Mehta told a client.

“But my chatbot is already in my customer’s Whatsapp!” the client, a major carmaker, retorted, referring to interactive applications used to send reminders or promotions, or answer user queries.

“Well, if the customer initiates the conversation, then it’s understandable,” Mehta explained. If the company does, it’s not.

These are the kinds of distinctions Mehta now spends his days unpacking. He is the founder of Concur, a startup angling for a........

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