WhatsApp India head Abhijit Bose quits, Shivnath Thukral replaces Rajiv Aggarwal as Meta's Public Policy head

New Delhi: WhatsApp India head Abhijit Bose and Meta's public policy head Rajiv Aggarwal have resigned from their positions, social media major Meta said on Tuesday.

The development comes within a week of Meta announcing 11,000 lay-offs across the globe.

The company has given charge of Meta India Public Policy to Shivnath Thukral who is currently serving as Director of WhatsApp Public Policy in India.

"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," Will Cathcart, Head of WhatsApp, said in a statement.

Bose had joined WhatsApp as the first country head of the company in India in February 2019.

In a social media post, Bose said that the week has been a tough one for all teams at WhatsApp.

"Amidst all of this, I just shared some news with our WhatsApp and India teams. It has been planned for a while, but given the events last week, we wanted to hold this back so we could focus on supporting those impacted last week," he said.

Bose said that he will be joining "the entrepreneurial world" after a small break.

Thukral will be responsible for public policy matters of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp in India.

Meta said that it remains deeply committed to India as its priority.

Meta, Director for Partnerships in India Manish Chopra said that 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 programmes like GOAL to drive digital inclusion in the country. He has also been leading proactive engagement with critical policy and regulatory stakeholders. We are grateful for his contributions and wish him very best for the future," Chopra said.

He announced that Thukral has been appointed as Director, Public Policy for Meta in India.

"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. We remain committed to our users in India and will continue to contribute meaningfully to the regulatory process that will enable everyone to harness the full potential of India's digital economy," Chopra said.