Rajiv Aggarwal ex-Meta Inc. policy head for India to join Samsung at a similar position

Meta on Tuesday said Rajiv Aggarwal and Abhijit Bose, the head of WhatsApp in India, had resigned. The announcement came just a fortnight after Meta’s India head Ajit Mohan resigned from the tech giant to join rival Snap Inc. in a key position.

Meta Platform Inc.’s former policy head for India is set to take a similar role at Samsung Electronics Co.’s local unit, sources said. Rajiv Aggarwal will take up the position, which entails liaising with and lobbying government officials on domestic policy matters, from December.

Aggarwal is joining one of the most successful foreign multinationals in India, a top seller of smartphones as well as other electronics. The executive was among several key executives to depart Meta’s local operations this year, as US internet giants grapple with increasingly stringent oversight of content.

Meta on Tuesday said Aggarwal and Abhijit Bose, the head of WhatsApp in India, had resigned. The announcement came just a fortnight after Meta’s India head Ajit Mohan Managing Director and V.P of Meta resigned from the tech giant to join rival Snap Inc. in a key position.

Announcing Aggarwal and Bose’s exits, Meta said it remained “deeply committed to India as its priority” and that their resignations were “completely unrelated to the recent news cycles”, alluding to the US tech giant’s move to cut 11,000 jobs or 13% of its workforce globally.

Aggarwal takes up the public policy role at Samsung at a time Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stepped up efforts to make the South Asian nation a force in electronics manufacturing like neighboring China. Samsung has been a key beneficiary of financial incentives that have helped India become the world’s second-biggest maker of mobiles. Rival Apple Inc. has also expanded production in India, crossing $1 billion in iPhone exports this year.

Aggarwal’s move also coincides with India trying to achieve chip sovereignty by making semiconductors locally, and New Delhi pushing back against Chinese smartphone makers. An engineer by training, Aggarwal was previously head of South Asia policy with Uber Technologies Inc.