With Sandhya Devanathan as India head, Meta looks to up digital game

Social media giant and Facebook parent Meta has appointed Sandhya Devanathan as its vice-president and India head, the company said on Thursday. The announcement of Devanathan’s appointment comes days after the departure of Ajit Mohan, who quit to join the rival Snap Inc.

Devanathan, the current head of Meta’s gaming vertical in Asia-Pacific region, will join as vice-president of Meta’s India business on January 1, 2023.

Marne Levine, Meta’s Chief Business Officer, said in a statement: “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.”

A global business leader

Levine said that India is at the forefront of digital adoption. “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,” he said.

Also read: Zuckerberg says ‘sorry’ for 11,000 layoffs in Meta, ‘I got this wrong’

Devanathan, a global business leader with 22 years of experience and an international career in banking, payments and technology, joined the company in 2016. She also helped build the company’s Singapore and Vietnam business. Besides, she was responsible for the company’s e-commerce initiatives in South East Asia.

In 2020, Devanathan moved to Indonesia to head Meta’s gaming vertical in the Asia-Pacific region — one of the largest verticals for Meta globally. Currently, she is the Executive Sponsor for Women@APAC at Meta. Devanathan is also the global lead for Play Forward, a Meta initiative to improve diversity in the gaming industry. She also serves on the board of Pepper Financial Services that invests, owns, manages and builds high growth, innovative lending and loan servicing.

Focus on Meta’s revenue

As its India head, Devanathan will focus on bringing Meta’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. She will report to Dan Neary, Meta’s vice-president in the Asia-Pacific region and be a part of the region’s leadership team.
“As part of her role, Devanathan will spearhead the company’s India charter 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,” the company said in a statement.

Tumultuous time for Meta

Devanathan takes over as head of Meta’s India business strategy at a time when Facebook is facing regulatory challenges in India, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration tightening laws governing Big Tech companies.

Also read: Meta India head Ajit Mohan quits

In recent years, the company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, has faced criticism for doing little to curb the spread of fake news and hate speech in India.

Recently, the company sacked more than 11,000 employees or 13 per cent of its workforce. In October this year, Reuters reported that Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg’s expensive bet on the metaverse project drove up the company’s overall costs by a fifth in the third quarter.

This led to investors dumping Meta’s stocks, pushing it down 20 per cent and wiping off nearly $67 billion in market value for the company, which also posted its fourth straight decline in quarterly profit.

According to Reuters, the company’s disappointing outlook comes at a time when it is dealing with slowing economic growth globally, privacy changes from Apple that affect its advertising business, and intense competition from TikTok.

Earlier this month, WhatsApp’s India head Abhijit Bose and Rajiv Aggarwal, Meta’s public policy director in India, also resigned. Ajit Mohan, who had occupied the role that Devanathan will soon fill, left the company and joined its competitor Snap as the president of its Asia Pacific business.