Meta's Arun Srinivas to lead the tech giant's India operations

Meta, on June 16, announced that it has appointed Arun Srinivas as the Managing Director and head of India operations, a crucial appointment in its largest user market.

This appointment comes after the current India head Sandhya Devanathan took on an expanded role of leading both India and South East Asia in May 2025.

Srinivas, who joined Meta in 2020, currently serves as the Director and Head of Ads Business in India. He will take on the new role from July 1, 2025, and will continue to report to Devanathan, the company said.

This appointment comes as India emerges as a crucial region for Meta's future growth strategy, particularly with its artificial intelligence efforts.

The country is the largest market for Meta's family of apps, which includes Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, with a combined monthly user base of over a billion. It is also the largest market for Meta's AI assistant, Meta AI, and one of the top markets for the adoption of Llama models among developers.

"Meta in India is leading the way in AI adoption, WhatsApp, and Reels, and Arun’s impressive track record of building high-performing teams, driving product innovation, and fostering strong partnerships makes him the ideal leader to drive Meta’s continued investment in the country. He will continue to work closely with me as we scale the business in India" Devanathan said in a statement.

In this role, Srinivas will lead Meta's India charter, overseeing its day-to-day operations and strengthening the company's strategic relationships with the country’s leading brands, advertisers, developers, and partners to drive growth.

He will also focus on bringing together Meta’s business, innovation, and revenue priorities to better serve partners and clients, while supporting the company’s long-term growth in India, the firm said in a statement.

Srinivas joined Meta in September 2020 as the Head of the Global Business Group for India, the unit responsible for large advertisers and agencies across industries. He was promoted to lead Meta’s ads business in India in September 2022.

Prior to joining Meta, Srinivas served as the COO and global CMO of Ola Mobility for over a year. He has nearly three decades of experience in sales and marketing leadership roles at companies such as Hindustan Unilever, Reebok, and the investment firm WestBridge Capital.

Meta's India unit saw its net profit increase by 43 percent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 504.93 crore for the financial year ended March 2024 (FY24), as the social networking giant benefited from strong growth in online advertising, fueled by rising digital adoption in the country.

The company's revenue from operations grew by 9.3 percent YoY to Rs 3,034.8 crore in FY24, from Rs 2,775.7 crore in FY23. The gross advertising revenue saw a 24 percent increase YoY to Rs 22,730.7 crore for the year, from Rs 18,308 crore in FY23.

Meta's India unit generates advertising revenue by displaying ad products across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and affiliated third-party websites or mobile applications. It recognizes revenue from impression-based ads when the ads are displayed to users, and from action-based ads when users complete the actions specified by advertisers.