New Delhi, India

Sandhya Devanathan has been named the India head of Meta, the social media giant announced on Thursday, days after Ajit Mohan resignation as Meta's former India head. Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp are all owned by Meta. Devanathan has been appointed as the new head of Meta's operations in India, and Marne Levine, the company's chief business officer, expressed his pleasure at her appointment.

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"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," Marne Levine said.

Who is Sandhya Devanathan and what is her career trajectory? We explain in depth. 

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Background to her appointment as Meta's India head

Devanathan assumes leadership of Meta's India division during a difficult phase for the firm, which recently let go of more than 11,000 employees or 13 per cent of its staff. According to Reuters, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, placed a costly wager on the metaverse project, which increased the company's overall expenditures by a fifth in the third quarter.

Also read | Meta layoffs EXPLAINED: Why did Meta fire 13% of its employees? What next for the Facebook parent company?

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Investors dumped Meta's stock as a result, sending it down 20 per cent and wiping off about $67 billion in market value for the business, which also reported its fourth consecutive quarter of declining quarterly earnings. The company's poor prognosis, according to Reuters, comes at a time when it must contend with TikTok's fierce competition, a slowdown in global economic development, changes to Apple's privacy policies that have an impact on its advertising business, and declining global economic growth.

Who is Sandhya Devanathan?

Sandhya Devanathan joined Meta in 2016. She assisted in establishing the companies and teams in Singapore and Vietnam. She also supported Meta's e-commerce efforts in Southeast Asia.

Devanathan has a 22-year career experience in banking, payments, and technology. Meta states that Devanathan "moved to lead gaming for APAC (Asia-Pacific region) in 2020, which is one of the largest verticals for Meta globally and that she also brings a passion for developing women leaders in business and is the Executive Sponsor for Women@APAC at Meta as well as the global lead for Play Forward, a global Meta initiative to improve diversity representation in the gaming industry.

Also read | Meta announces departure of India policy chief Rajiv Aggarwal, Whatsapp India head Abhijit Bose

Education and former jobs

Devanathan did her B. Tech in Chemical Engineering from Andhra University (1994-1998), followed by an MBA from Faculty of management studies, Delhi University (1998-2000). In 2014, she went to the University of Oxford for a course in leadership. 

Her previous employers include Citibank and Standard Chartered. she worked in various positions from May 2000 to December 2009 with Citibank, while she worked with Standard Chartered from December 2009 to December 2015.

Devanathan also sits on the boards of various organisations, or has in the past. These organisations include the Women's Forum for the Economy and Society, the National Library Board of Singapore, the Pepper Financial Services Group, the Singapore Management University, and the Ministry of Information and Communications (Singapore).

What does her new role entail?

The social media behemoth has stated that Sandhya Devanathan would oversee the organisation's India charter and deepen strategic ties with the major brands, creators, advertisers, and partners in the nation in order to propel Meta's revenue growth across important channels in India.

While continuing to support the long-term expansion of Meta's business and commitment to India, Devanathan will concentrate on aligning the organisation's business and revenue goals to serve its partners and clients, the firm said.

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