Meta appoints Sandhya Devanathan as head for India business

New Delhi: Meta (formerly Facebook) on Thursday announced the appointment of Sandhya Devanathan as the Vice President of Meta India, as several key executives leave the company in recent days.

She will start her new role on January 1, 2023 and will report to Dan Neary, Vice President, Meta APAC.

Devanathan will be a part of the APAC leadership team and will move back to India to lead the country’s organisation and strategy.

“Sandhya has a proven track record of scaling businesses, building exceptional and inclusive teams, driving product innovation and building strong partnerships. We are thrilled to have her lead Meta’s continued growth in India,” said Marne Levine, Chief Business Officer, Meta.

Devanathan will focus on bringing the organisation’s business and revenue priorities together to serve its partners and clients, while continuing to support the long-term growth of Meta’s business and commitment to India, said the company.

She joined Meta in 2016 and helped build out the Singapore and Vietnam businesses and teams as well as Meta’s e-commerce initiatives in Southeast Asia.

In 2020, she moved to lead gaming for APAC which is one of the largest verticals for Meta globally.

Meanwhile, amid the heightened insecurity and mass layoffs, Abhijit Bose, Head of India, WhatsApp and Rajiv Aggarwal, Director of Public Policy, Meta India — have resigned, the company confirmed on Tuesday.

Shivnath Thukral, Director of WhatsApp Public Policy, India has been appointed as Director, Public Policy, Meta India (across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp in India), replacing Aggarwal who joined Meta last year from Uber.

In a LinkedIn post, Bose said that it “has been a tough week for all of our team at WhatsApp as we had to say Goodbyes to many amazing teammates last week”.

“It’s been 4 years since I joined as WhatsApp’s first Country Head in India, After a small break, I plan to rejoin the entrepreneurial world; you’ll see announcements on that shortly,” Bose wrote.

Earlier this month, Ajit Mohan, head of Meta in India, left the social network to join rival Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, as lead of the company’s Asia-Pacific business.

Meta last week sacked more than 11,000 employees, or 13 per cent of its workforce, in one of the worst tech lay-offs that hit various teams in India.

-IANS