Meta India Public Policy VP Shivnath Thukral resigns; says, 'I aim to focus on my health and family'

Meta India's Public Policy Vice President (VP) Shivnath Thukral is stepping down at the end of June, marking the second high-profile public policy departure in India’s tech sector this year.

Thukral, who joined the company in November 2017 when it was still known as Facebook, held a series of policy roles over nearly seven and a half years. He led WhatsApp’s public policy function for four years before taking over as director of public policy for Meta India in November 2022. In March 2024, he was elevated to Vice President for public policy.

In his farewell note posted on LinkedIn, Thukral wrote, “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.”

Since the start of 2025, Meta has expanded partnerships with state governments in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Odisha to roll out WhatsApp-powered citizen services. Some states have also begun piloting Llama, Meta’s open-source large language model, for backend tasks like document retrieval in government offices.

In November 2022, Thukral replaced Rajiv Aggarwal, who had moved to Samsung India. His tenure coincided with several high-stakes challenges for Meta in India. The most consequential was a five-year legal standoff over WhatsApp’s controversial 2021 data-sharing policy. 

Thukral acknowledged the complexities in his exit note, saying, “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.”

He added that he would now focus on his health, family, and personal interests, noting, “One should never stop learning, so will update on the next move which will help me learn more and do new and different things. Who knows, maybe help to take India to the world! So watch this space for more!”

Kevin Martin, Meta’s vice president and global policy head, confirmed the departure in a prepared statement: “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. We thank him for his leadership and contributions, and wish him well in his future endeavors.”