Facebook parent Meta India’s head Ajit Mohan, who joined the tech giant as vice president and managing director in 2019 has resigned, the company said.  

Mohan will join Meta’s business rival Snap as the president of the company’s APAC business. 

“Ajit has decided to step down from his role at Meta to pursue another opportunity outside of the company,” Nicola Mendelsohn, Vice President of Global Business Group at Meta, said in a statement.

“Over the last four years, he has played an important role in shaping and scaling our India operations so they can serve many millions of Indian businesses, partners and people. We remain deeply committed to India and have a strong leadership team in place to carry on all our work and partnerships. We are grateful for Ajit’s leadership and contribution and wish him the very best for the future.”

During his stay at Facebook (Meta), the series of apps that the company had taken over, including Instagram and Whatsapp, added over 300 million users in India. Under his three years tenure, the company also made a series of ambitious investments in India, including deploying $5.7 billion to Jio Platforms and ramping up Whatsapp’s commerce engine.

Mohan headlined the India operations through a tumultuous phase for the company globally, which included numerous data collection and surveillance reports by whistleblowers, including the notable Cambridge Analytica scandal. 

Meanwhile, Meta has appointed Manish Chopra as the interim head of India’s operations. He will manage the current role along with his post as the Director and Head of Partnerships at Meta India. 

Multiple sources have also reported that Meta’s Vice President for Asia Pacific, Dan Neary, would “soon" be in India and host an all-hands meeting to create a transition plan.

It is an interesting time for Snap as the company had recently laid off employees in thousands. It has also recently shored up efforts in India and several other Asian markets to expand business in recent years.

In recent ties, Snap and Facebook have been facing flak due to their regulatory policies especially in India, as the government tightens laws to govern big tech companies and screen them.

Image source: Fortune India