Facebook appoints Adobe executive as its new India head

Facebook has appointed former Adobe head Umang Bedia as its new managing director in India, its second-largest market in the world. Bedi, who was the managing director of south Asia at Adobe, takes over from Kirthiga Reddy, who will join the global accounts team at the company's headquarters at Menlo Park, California.

As the world's fastest growing smartphone market, India is important for Facebook. The company, which currently has 150 million users in India, recently opened its fourth office in the country, in the financial and entertainment hub of Mumbai. However, its revenues have remained paltry as compared to its global earnings.

After taking charge in July, Bedi will be responsible for building and maintaining strategic relationships with top clients and agencies in India. Prior to Facebook, the Harvard Business School alumini worked on expanding Adobe's business in India. 

Facebook revealed that it worked with over 85% of the 100 top advertisers in India, with 100% of them using video for their Facebook campaigns in the country.

Reddy, had resigned from the post in February, a day after Facebook withdrew its Free Basics programme in India. This was a major setback for the company's ambitions and public image in the country. Despite a multi-million dollar advertising campaign by Facebook, India's telecom regular banned differential pricing and zero-rating platforms such as Free Basics for violating the principles of net neutrality,

However, Facebook had denied that the change of guard was due to the Free Basics debacle. “As she had planned for some time, Kirthiga Reddy is moving back to the US to work with the teams in Headquarters. We are extremely proud of the work she has done to grow our global sales business in India,” a company spokesperson said.

“After six years in India building our operations and business, it’s hard to leave a team I now call family. The good news is that we will continue to work together," Reddy said in a statement. "As I look ahead, I am excited about how well positioned our business is, to grow from strength to strength with Umang’s leadership, and with my next opportunity to shape and drive our emerging markets strategy across some of the world’s biggest brands.”

“Facebook is where people and businesses connect on mobile and with close to 150 million monthly active people in India, we see significant opportunities to help Indian business -- large and small -- deliver against their business objectives in the mobile world,” Dan Neary, Facebook vice-president for the Asia-Pacific region said. 

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