India A Priority Market For Meta, Says Meta India Head Sandhya Devanathan

The Meta India Head noted that the company acknowledges the potential of the country and sees it as a major platform for innovation and engaging with the users.

Meta considers India as a priority market with limitless possibilities, said the company’s India head Sandhya Devanathan in an interview on Tuesday. Talking about the scope of India in terms of macroeconomic growth and digital infrastructure, the Meta India Vice President and Head noted that the company acknowledges the potential of the country and sees it as a major platform for innovation and engaging with the users, in addition to looking at it as an opportunity ‘for our business to grow’.

During the interview to PTI, Devanathan stated that the new data protection rules in the country have created a framework and provided clarity for tech companies and will help balance user protection with innovation. 

The Meta executive talked about the company’s intention to curb misinformation on the social media platform and stated that the firm is using artificial intelligence (AI) to actively keep a check on hateful content. Talking about the scale of Meta in India, Devanathan said, “India is among Meta's largest user bases globally - 400 million users of Facebook were here at the last count and growing..For Meta, India is also one of the most engaged markets in short-form videos both in terms of creation and consumption of 'Reels.”

The executive further added that Meta is working on building the momentum in small businesses to use it’s platform and tools. “A significant number of businesses in India are on Meta, using its platforms to set up their first presence on the internet and to find and communicate with customers,” she said. 

Elaborating on the growth of digital economy, Devanathan added, “India's vision of a USD 1 trillion digital economy by 2030 is a significant tailwind for opportunities. And that number is going to mean that tech companies will have tailwinds of a growing economy. Equally, you are looking at almost a billion people on the internet in not the very distant future, of which 400 million are expected to shop online...also look at the video consumption numbers...So there is this huge headroom not just for Meta, but for a whole lot of other companies as well.”

The Meta India head concluded that India has a scope for improvement in terms of it’s contribution to advertising dollars. She noted that US currently contributes 1.9 per cent of it’s GDP worth to advertising, while India stands at a mere 0.5 per cent. She urged that India should work and improve this contribution.