Meta Names Sandhya Devanathan As Head And Vice President Of India

Tech giant Meta on Wednesday (November 17) appointed Sandhya Devanathan as Head and Vice President of Meta India, days after Ajit Mohan resigned as head of Meta India.

Devanathan will transition to her new role on January 1, 2023 and will report to Dan Neary, Vice President, Meta APAC and will be a part of the APAC leadership team, Meta said in a statement. 

In her new role, Devanathan will spearhead the company’s India operations and strengthen the strategic relationships with the country’s leading brands, creators, advertisers, and partners to drive Meta’s revenue growth in key channels in India. 

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, the statement added. 

Devanathan joined Meta in 2016 to build out the Singapore and Vietnam businesses and teams as well as Meta’s e-commerce initiatives in Southeast Asia. She moved to lead Gaming for APAC in 2020. 

Now, she will move back to India to lead the India organisation and strategy.

“India is at the forefront of digital adoption and Meta has launched many of our top products, such as Reels and Business Messaging, in India first. We are proud to have recently launched JioMart on WhatsApp, which is our first end-to-end shopping experience in India,” Marne Levine, chief business officer of Meta, said.

“I’m pleased to welcome Sandhya as our new leader for India. 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,” Levine added.

Earlier this month, Mohan quit Meta India and is reportedly set to join its global rival Snap Inc. In September, the chief of WhatsApp Pay in India, Manesh Mahatme, also quit the company. 

The social media company has seen major churn in India lately as many senior executives have left the organisation. For instance, WhatsApp’s India head Abhijit Bose and Meta India’s director of public policy Rajiv Aggarwal also resigned from their respective positions recently.

It must be noted that Meta recently initiated mass layoffs and announced a 13% headcount reduction globally which would affect over 11,000 employees.

In India, Meta, like other tech and social media giants, has been caught up in legal tussles with the government. Currently, it is also being probed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in WhatsApp’s contentious privacy policy update of 2021.