Meta India has been hit by another set of top-level exits with WhatsApp India head Abhijit Bose leaving the technology firm. Along with Bose, Facebook's public policy director Rajiv Aggarwal has also quit the company.
Bose was appointed as the first country head for WhatsApp in any country in 2018. He was roped in to drive Whatsapp's payments business as well as expand the messaging app's reach in India. Bose was previously the cofounder of payments firm Ezetap before joining WhatApp as its India head. Earlier this year, Razorpay acquired Ezetap in a cash-and-stock deal.
Shivnath Thukral, director of public policy at WhatsApp has now been appointed by Meta to head the public policy initiatives of the company across all the three platforms- WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, the company said.
While Thukral has been given the additional responsibility, it is unclear as of now as to who will replace Bose. "I want to thank Abhijit Bose for his tremendous contributions as our first Head of WhatsApp in India. His entrepreneurial drive helped our team deliver new services that have benefited millions of people and businesses. There is so much more WhatsApp can do for India and we’re excited to continue helping advance India’s digital transformation,” said Will Cathcart, head of WhatsApp.
Earlier this month, Ajit Mohan, vice president of Meta India, had quit the company to join rival social media platform Snap as their head of business in Asia Pacific Region.
While Bose will be exiting the company towards the end of this week after serving his notice period, Aggarwal will be serving his notice period over the next few days. Both Bose and Aggarwal handed in their resignations before Mohan resigned from the company last week, sources said.
Bose's exit comes at a time when WhatsApp India has struggled to make any progress in its payments business here on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
Bose was appointed as the first country head for WhatsApp in any country in 2018. He was roped in to drive Whatsapp's payments business as well as expand the messaging app's reach in India. Bose was previously the cofounder of payments firm Ezetap before joining WhatApp as its India head. Earlier this year, Razorpay acquired Ezetap in a cash-and-stock deal.
Confirming the development, Meta India said the development is "completely unrelated to the recent news cycles." Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had recently announced that the company was planning to layoff 11,000 people, cutting 13% of Meta's workforce.
Shivnath Thukral, director of public policy at WhatsApp has now been appointed by Meta to head the public policy initiatives of the company across all the three platforms- WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, the company said.
While Thukral has been given the additional responsibility, it is unclear as of now as to who will replace Bose. "I want to thank Abhijit Bose for his tremendous contributions as our first Head of WhatsApp in India. His entrepreneurial drive helped our team deliver new services that have benefited millions of people and businesses. There is so much more WhatsApp can do for India and we’re excited to continue helping advance India’s digital transformation,” said Will Cathcart, head of WhatsApp.
Earlier this month, Ajit Mohan, vice president of Meta India, had quit the company to join rival social media platform Snap as their head of business in Asia Pacific Region.
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While Bose will be exiting the company towards the end of this week after serving his notice period, Aggarwal will be serving his notice period over the next few days. Both Bose and Aggarwal handed in their resignations before Mohan resigned from the company last week, sources said.
Bose's exit comes at a time when WhatsApp India has struggled to make any progress in its payments business here on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
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