Meta VP Sandhya Devanathan Steps Down

Meta's vice president for India and Southeast Asia, Sandhya Devanathan, has stepped down after more than a decade at the social media giant. She announced her departure in a LinkedIn post, describing it as a "bittersweet decision."

Devanathan plans to take a short break before starting her next professional chapter. She did not reveal her future destination. Meta has not yet named a replacement for her.

Career at Meta

Sandhya Devanathan joined Facebook, now Meta, in 2016. Her initial role was Group Director for ecommerce, travel, and financial services businesses in Southeast Asia. She later became Managing Director for Facebook Singapore and business head for Vietnam.

In 2020, she took charge of Meta's gaming vertical for the Asia-Pacific region. She noted on LinkedIn that this was one of the company's five largest business verticals. Meta appointed her as its India head and vice president in November 2022, and she began the role in January 2023.

The company expanded her responsibilities to include Southeast Asia in June 2025. Around that same time, Meta appointed Arun Srinivas as its Managing Director and head for India, with Srinivas reporting to Devanathan.

Broader Context and Board Roles

Devanathan's exit follows other significant leadership changes at Meta's associated operations. Months earlier, CRED founder Kunal Shah took over as WhatsApp's global head and stepped back from the fintech unicorn's daily operations. According to the source report, Meta invested $900 million in CRED through primary and secondary transactions.

Her departure also coincides with increased regulatory scrutiny of Meta in India. Earlier this month, the Indian government sought technical changes from the company to address child sexual abuse material, deepfakes, and unlabelled AI-generated content on its platforms. The source states that Meta subsequently began acting on these government concerns after multiple discussions.

Before her tenure at Meta, Devanathan spent nearly ten years at Citi and over six years at Standard Chartered Bank. She also holds several external board positions.

Since February 2026, she has served as a founding board member of Reliance Enterprise Intelligence Ltd. This is the enterprise AI joint venture between Meta and Reliance. She is also a board observer at Jio Platforms and a member of the advisory board for the College of Integrative Studies at Singapore Management University.

It remains unclear whether Devanathan will continue in these external roles following her exit from Meta. The source report from Inc42 does not provide further details on her succession or future plans.