Meta India public policy head Shivnath Thukral to step down

Meta India public policy head Shivnath Thukral is stepping down from his role at the end of this month, marking a key departure from the social networking giant in its largest user market.

Thukral, who joined Meta (then Facebook) in 2017, was with the company for nearly seven and a half years, serving in multiple policy roles. He was appointed director of public policy for Meta India in November 2022, following the exit of Rajiv Aggarwal. Prior to that, Thukral served as director of public policy at WhatsApp India for about four years. He was elevated as Meta's vice-president for public policy in March 2024.

"It is not an easy decision to make but I feel very confident that our policy engagement with stakeholders is at a credible and constructive juncture and we can only build further on that," Thukral said in a LinkedIn post on June 11.

"There is always more to do and I know the team is well equipped to navigate the waters well. Having helped build some of the systems and processes, I do feel it is a good time to let the engine and the team work on their own," he added.

Thukral's next move is unclear at the moment. "For now, I aim to focus a bit more on my running, health and family...One should never stop learning so will update on the next move which will help me learn more and do new and different things," he said.

"Shivnath Thukral is leaving Meta to pursue new opportunities. As a member of the India leadership team, he played a key role in navigating and shaping policy and regulatory conversations and engagements that were critical for the industry and Meta in India over the last 7.5 years" Kevin Martin, VP, Head of Global Policy, Meta said in a statement.

With a combined user base of over a billion monthly users, India is the largest market for Meta's family of apps, which includes Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

India is also a crucial region for Meta's future growth, particularly with its artificial intelligence (AI) efforts.

Moneycontrol had reported in April that Meta is in talks with various state governments for a major e-governance push in India through its open AI model Llama and messaging application WhatsApp.

Since the beginning of 2025, the social networking giant has been partnering with the state governments of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Odisha to introduce WhatsApp-based citizen service delivery models, aimed at helping citizens quickly access government services and schemes.

Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra governments have also signed agreements to use Llama for a range of backend services, such as document retrieval, to boost productivity and efficiency for government employees, India head Sandhya Devanathan told Moneycontrol in an interview.