[Update] PhonePe Onboards FormerMeta Exec Shivnath Thukral As VP For Public Policy

Update | July 15, 11:17 AM

A month after stepping down as Meta India’s public policy head, Shivnath Thukral has now joined fintech giant PhonePe as the vice president for public policy and government affairs.

Thukral will be responsible for leading the company’s external engagement and drive discussions with policy makers and regulators. He will closely work with PhonePe founders Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari.

“We are delighted to have Shivnath join the PhonePe team. He comes with a rich experience and deep understanding of public policy, regulatory frameworks, and strategic advocacy. I would like to wish him the very best in his new role,” said Nigam.

This comes at a time when PhonePe is planning to file Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) for its $1.5 Bn IPO by August. 

Original | June 12, 12:17 AM

Meta’s vice-president of public policy in India, Shivnath Thukral, is stepping down from the social media company. 

In a post on LinkedIn, Thukral said, “After a very satisfying and enriching journey of more than 7.5 years I have decided to step down from Meta as the VP of India Public Policy at the end of this month”.

Thukral said he plans to “focus a bit more” on running, health and family going ahead. He added that he plans to be “back soon”.

“… I will be back soon. One should never stop learning so will update on the next move which will help me learn more and do new and different things. Who knows, maybe help to take India to the world!” added the post. 

Thukral has spent more than seven years at Meta. He joined Meta (then Facebook) as public policy director of India and South Asia in 2017 and internally moved to the role of public policy director of messaging platform WhatsApp India in 2022. 

In November 2022, he was appointed as the head of public policy for Meta in India, after his predecessor Rajiv Aggarwal left, and was then moved to his current role in March last year. 

Reminiscing his stint at Meta, Thukral claimed that he helped build some of the systems and processes of Meta’s policy engagement, adding that it was a “good time to let the engine and the team work on their own”.

“… It is not an easy decision to make but I feel very confident that our policy engagement with stakeholders is at a credible and constructive juncture and we can only build further on that. There is always more to do and I know the team is well equipped to navigate the waters well. Having helped build some of the systems and processes, I do feel it is a good time to let the engine and the team work on their own,” added the outgoing executive. 

An alumnus of Delhi School of Economics and Southern Illinois University, Thukral also served at Carnegie India, Essar Group and NDTV previously.

Notably, Thukral’s departure comes weeks after Meta entrusted vice president for India, Sandhya Devanathan, with additional responsibilities to lead the social media company’s Southeast Asia operations. The development also coincides with rival Google’s head of public policy in India, Sreenivasa Reddy, quitting in February this year. 

Thukral’s exit also comes at a time when Meta has been under the radar of Indian authorities for a slew of reasons. In March, the big tech blocked access to thousands of Facebook pages and accounts that scammed Indian users with deepfakes and other techniques. 

In November last year, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) also imposed a penalty of INR 213.14 Cr on Meta for abuse of dominant position with regards to WhatsApp’s 2021 policy update. In some relief, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), in January, reportedly granted interim relief to Meta by staying the five-year ban imposed by the watchdog on WhatsApp’s data sharing policy.