Facebook India CEO Umang Bedi has put in his papers after working at the social media giant for 15 months, ET reported. Facebook India confirmed the development, “We confirm that Umang Bedi will be leaving his role at Facebook at the end of this year. He’s built a really strong team and business during his time with us, and we wish him all the best,” a company spokesperson said.
Sandeep Bhushan has been appointed as the interim managing director. Bhushan, who is a former Samsung IT and mobile business director, handled the new revenue streams from FMCG advertisers for Facebook across the region. Prior to Samsung, Bhushan was vice president, digital for HT Media.
Facebook had appointed the former Adobe South Asia region MD Umang Bedi in June last year to build and maintain strategic relationships with top clients and regional agencies in the country. At Adobe, Bedi was responsible for growing their business in India and helping India grow to amongst the leading markets for Adobe. He succeeded Kirthiga Reddy at Facebook, who returned to the US to take on a new role at the company’s headquarters at Menlo Park. At the time of appointment Bedi had termed the new role as a promising opportunity, "I am thrilled to join Facebook and am looking forward to working with the talented teams in India, to help brands and agencies grow their business on our platform. For me it's a promising opportunity to participate in India's digital growth, and I can't think of a better place to be at.", he had said after being appointed.
Facebook users in India have crossed 240-million mark becoming the largest audience country for the social media giant, according a recent media report stated.
As of 13 July, Facebook reported a total “potential audience” of 241 million active users in India, compared with 240 million in the US.
Active users in India are up 27% in the past six months alone (+50 million), compared to growth of 12% (+26 million) in the US over the same period.
Despite these strong gains, social media penetration in India remains relatively low, with just 19% of the country’s total population using Facebook in June. That compares to 73% penetration in the US, and a global average of around 42%, the report said.
