Meta appoints new India head
NEW DELHI: Facebook parent Meta has appointed Sandhya Devanathan as its new top executive in India, a fortnight after the departure of former country head Ajit Mohan.
Devanathan, who is based in Singapore, heads the gaming advertising vertical for the Asiapacific (Apac) market at Meta. She will relocate to India to take up the new role from 1 January.
Devanathan will report to Dan Neary, vice-president of Apac business, Meta said on Thursday.
“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 at Meta.
Devanathan joined Meta in 2016 and has 22 years of experience in banking, payments and technology. She helped build Meta’s Singapore and Vietnam businesses and teams, along with the company’s e-commerce initiatives in Southeast Asia.
She took up the gaming advertising vertical in 2020, which is among the largest verticals for Meta globally.
Her appointment comes amid massive layoffs at Meta’s global business units and a flurry of high profile exits from its India ventures. On November 3, Meta announced the departure of Ajit Mohan, with immediate effect. Abhijit Bose, country head for Whatsapp India, and Rajiv Aggarwal, public policy director for Meta India, also left the company earlier this week. Mohan joined Meta’s rival Snap Inc. to head its Apac business unit, while Aggarwal is expected to join South Korean electronics firm Samsung.
On November 9, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company will fire 11,000 employees, or about 13% of its workforce, and freeze all hiring at least until March next year.
Meta’s move closely followed Twitter halving its workforce, which saw over 3,700 employees, including nearly its entire India staff, being fired. Other US tech firms, including Stripe, Lyft and Amazon, have laid off thousands of workers.
While Meta’s India teams haven’t been as impacted as those in the US and some other countries, some employees have been laid off from communications, recruitment and other teams here too.