Meta India Head Ajit Mohan Quits: Will Join Snap To Help Build Indian Userbase?

Facebook's parent company Meta, confirmed that its India head, Ajit Mohan quit the company on Thursday, November 3. It appears Mohan will now head over to Snap, Snapchat's parent company. During his tenure at Meta, Mohan helped the company add more than 200 million across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Mohan will reportedly join Snap as President of Asia Pacific, and report directly to the company's CEO Jerry Hunter.

Meta Praises Ajit Mohan For Creating A Strong Presence In India

Ajit Mohan joined Facebook India as the platform's managing director in January 2019. He joined when Meta wasn't formed and Facebook was the parent company. Meta became the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and other acquired platforms in 2021.

In the last four years, Meta's two platforms, WhatsApp and Instagram, gained over 200 million users in India alone. Speaking about Mohan's achievements and his departure from Meta, Nicola Mendelsohn, Vice President of Global Business Group at Meta said:

"Ajit has decided to step down from his role at Meta to pursue another opportunity outside of the company. 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".

Unconfirmed reports indicate Manish Chopra, who is currently the Director and Head of Partnerships may step in as interim head before a formal appointment takes place. Meta hasn't indicated who will lead its Indian operations.

Ajit Mohan May Help Snap Increase Its Userbase In India

Mohan has ample experience in creating platforms that attract and retain users, especially in countries like India. Prior to Meta, he had worked as CEO of Star India's Hotstar. Mohan had reportedly convinced the company to develop the streaming service.

The rise in Hotstar's user base and popularity is evidence of Mohan's ability to create an innovative platform that has immense regional appeal. Hotstar has India-specific content, and the platform focuses on local movies and series, unlike Netflix, which has a lot of western content that is being served to Indians.

Snap has reportedly confirmed that Mohan will be joining the company in February as president of the Asia Pacific Region. Snapchat, an image-based social media platform, has been trying to grow its presence and boost its appeal in India. Although Snapchat has managed to grow its user base, it is nowhere close to the social media giants. The platform does get some customized features but it will need much more if it intends to grow exponentially.