Microsoft-owned professional networking platform LinkedIn on August 23 appointed long-time executive Kumaresh Pattabiraman as the India manager and product head, a crucial appointment in the company's fastest-growing market.
Pattabiraman takes over from Ashutosh Gupta who quit LinkedIn India in April after an 11-year stint. Gupta has joined growth-stage venture capital fund Avataar Venture Partners as an operating partner.
Pattabiraman joined LinkedIn in July 2013 as the group product manager for the company's search and discovery product team. In subsequent roles, he has played a key role in improving the company's member experience by enhancing products such as Search and Feed and launching products such as Profile Video and Career Breaks, the company said.
Pattabiraman has over 15 years of experience in product and engineering roles. This includes a stint at Microsoft where he worked on the Bing search engine.
India is the second-largest market for LinkedIn after the United States, with over 135 million members. Globally, LinkedIn has over a billion users. The company reported over $15 billion in revenue for fiscal 2023.
"Having started my career as an engineer in Bangalore and built teams in India across LinkedIn and Microsoft, I can say that the energy, ambition, and potential of Indian talent, especially in R&D, are unparalleled," Pattabiraman said in a post on LinkedIn.
India is among the top five countries with the fastest-growing artificial intelligence talent and has the highest AI skill penetration globally, with its members using AI skills three time more frequently than the global average, he said.
"This puts India at the forefront of the future of work, and sets us up brilliantly to build in India for the world," Pattabiraman said in the post.
In July, LinkedIn extended its Instagram Reels-like vertical short-form video experience to India in a bid to tap into the rising consumption of bite-sized content in the country.
The rollout was after the company saw a 20 percent year-on-year increase in membership as well as engagement in the country, the highest growth rate for the platform anywhere in the world.
LinkedIn also forayed into games in May with the launch of three puzzle games — Pinpoint, Queens, and Crossclimb — that people across the world can play on LinkedIn's mobile app or website.
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