Meta India’s ex policy chief joins Samsung as tech policy shifts

CALIFORNIA: Meta Platform Inc.’s former policy head for India, Rajiv Aggarwal, is set to take a similar role at Samsung Electronics Co.’s local unit, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Aggarwal will take up the position, which entails liaising with and lobbying government officials on domestic policy matters, from December, one of the people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified because the appointment has not been made public yet.

Aggarwal is joining one of the most successful foreign multinationals in India, a top seller of smartphones as well as other electronics.

The executive was among several key executives to depart Meta’s local operations this year, as US internet giants including Alphabet Inc’s Google grapple with increasingly stringent oversight of content.

Aggarwal did not respond to messages or phone calls seeking comment.

Samsung representatives did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Meta had on Tuesday said Aggarwal and Abhijit Bose, the head of WhatsApp in India, had resigned.

The announcement came just a fortnight after Meta’s India head Ajit Mohan resigned from the tech giant to join rival Snap Inc. in a key position.

Announcing Aggarwal and Bose’s exits, Meta said it remained “deeply committed to India as its priority” and that their resignations were “completely unrelated to the recent news cycles”. This was an allusion to the US tech giant’s move to cut 11,000 jobs or 13% of its workforce globally.

Aggarwal takes up the public policy role at Samsung at a time Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stepped up efforts to make the South Asian nation a force in electronics manufacturing like neighbouring China.

Samsung has been a key beneficiary of financial incentives that have helped India become the world’s second- biggest maker of mobiles.

Rival Apple Inc. has also expanded production in India, crossing $1 billion in iPhone exports this year.

Aggarwal’s move also coincides with India trying to achieve chip sovereignty by making semiconductors locally, and New Delhi pushing back against Chinese smartphone makers.

An engineer by training, Aggarwal was previously head of South Asia policy with Uber Technologies Inc.