WhatsApp India head Abhijit Bose quits days after biggest layoff at Meta

WhatsApp India head Abhijit Bose has resigned from his post on Tuesday, quitting Meta, the parent company.

Along with Bose, Meta India’s director of public policy Rajiv Aggarwal has also stepped down from his position, the company said in a statement.

“Rajiv Aggarwal has decided to step down from his role at Meta to pursue another opportunity.  Over the last year, he has played an important role in leading our policy-led initiatives in areas such as user-safety, privacy and scaling up programs like GOAL to drive digital inclusion in the country," said Manish Chopra, Director, Partnerships, India - Meta.

The company has appointed Shivnath Thukral as its new director for public policy in India, a Meta spokesperson confirmed.

"Shivnath has been an integral part of our Public Policy team since 2017. In his new role, Shivnath will define and lead important policy development initiatives across our apps - Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp - in India," Chopra added.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Thukral has been working as WhatsApp India's Public Policy Director since 2020. He is an alumnus of SIU, Carbondale and Delhi School of Economics. He has previously worked with Essar Group after a successful run as a business journalist for an India TV channel. 

The top exits come days after Meta India head Ajit Mohan quit the company to join Snap Inc.

Last week, Meta Inc laid off 11,000 employees globally as a cost-cutting measure. About 11% of Meta staff was laid off amidst an economic slowdown. Other companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft have also announced job cuts and a a freeze in hiring.