To put it mildly, the past few months haven’t been easy for social media companies. Meta, the parent company for Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp went through several rounds of layoffs globally, which also included sacking of key leadership team members in the India market. During these tough times, Sandhya Devanathan took charge of Meta India.

At a time when social media firms are facing regulatory headwinds owing to issues like privacy and data protection, fact-checking, and macroeconomic headwinds that could impact the digital advertising spends, Devanathan remains excited about the India opportunity.

CNBC-TV18’s Shibani Gharat caught up with her for Storyboard 18 on the heels of Meta’s app WhatsApp launching a slew of privacy features and a new campaign for which the platform has partnered with actor Anushka Sharma to launch a series of mirrored messages appearing in private spaces – women's restrooms – in malls across Delhi. She also spoke about the focus on privacy, opportunities in the India market, AI, Metaverse and more. (edited excerpts)

You assumed leadership of the India division of Meta after a turbulent past few months for the firm. What has been your immediate mandate in the last six-seven months?

Devanathan: Six months, still my honeymoon period is on. It felt like drinking from the firehose. Definitely, it has been equal parts exciting and equal parts challenging. But I will pivot back to what we are doing as a company, which is that this year has been the ‘year of efficiency’. So we have taken a hard look around how to become much more tech first.

We want to go back to our roots and become a more tech first company and while continuing to deliver the financial results that we do. That has been the genesis of why we have had the year of efficiency and that has played out in India as well.

I remain excited about the opportunities. The mandate is how do we connect our millions of consumers across all three of our platforms be it Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp, how do we make sure that we continue to play a meaningful role in India’s decade and be consequential to Meta globally as well.

When we think about what my priorities are, we got together as a leadership team and one of the things we talked about is the wave of digital transformation happening in our country, businesses coming online and how we power that. This is both small and big businesses, whether it is D2C brands to find a voice on our platforms and grow their businesses on our platform or startups or small businesses.

What will be the ‘new Meta India Story’?

Devanathan: The Meta India Story is already very strong. We have done well in the country in terms of value we provide to businesses, people and communities. My focus, along with my leadership team, is to make sure we continue to power India’s decade and play a consequential role in that. And, that’s through powering small businesses, startups and even large businesses and them finding their best rupee spent.

We have done a lot of work around Metaverse in India. India will have the world’s largest base of developers. How do we make sure that we are funneling that back to global. And the third thing is around business messaging, that is also a company priority. Whether you are a small or a large business, I can see so much action happen on business messaging.

Also Read: Meta and CAIT tie up to upskill 1 million traders

What is expected out of India by the Meta HQ today?

Devanathan: India has one of the largest user bases for the company globally. It is a large and consequential market for Meta. From HQ, I have had so many product teams come and spend time in India. The focus is to see that the growth momentum seen both on users and revenue and financial outcomes, we have continued to be on an upward trajectory. The kind of scale that India provides as a testing ground for any company is unparalleled and unmatched. Innovation is happening organically in India. I think a big conversation and focus is on how we make India as a crucible for innovation for Meta globally.

Just when we thought all the talk and buzz about Metaverse was fading, a new product brought it back into conversation. Do you think it could make a comeback in 2023?

Devanathan: As a company priority, we have never stopped investing in Metaverse. What we have always maintained is that the ‘Metaverse’ is our vision of an embodied internet, many years, almost a decade away. Our investments continue in Metaverse. Even in our quarterly report, we spoke about how we will continue investing a doubling down on Metaverse. The competition is jumping in as well.

Metaverse is something we will see continued investments in and continued innovations in. We want to make sure that Indian developers and startups are Metaverse ready. We have 40 startups who are building for Metaverse. Twenty percent of the startups are women led and many from tier 2 tier 3 cities. So this is not big cities and men building for Metaverse. We want to widen and build a more diverse Metaverse.

Trimmed down team as compared to what Meta India used to be — your ambition and goal forward?

Devanathan: The opportunity that India offers is massive for us, this doesn’t change. Be it the digitally enabled people, the GDP growth in the country — these are all big tailwinds for the Indian market and for Meta.

The second is ad penetration. India is nowhere near markets like the US. As a percentage of GDP ad spends in India is less than a percent as compared to 1.9 percent in the US. So, there is a lot of headroom for growth.

The third is our platform. We still connect with millions of people around the country and that opportunity is there. I have been here for 6 months and I have seen how we deliver the best value for rupee when a business puts a rupee with us –whether you are small or big you are looking for a return and that doesn’t change.

First Published:Jun 30, 2023 12:52 PM IST