Meta’s vice president for India and Southeast Asia, Sandhya Devanathan, is leaving the company to join OpenAI.

She will be based in Singapore and report to OpenAI’s Asia-Pacific managing director, Kiran Mani, overseeing consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships, regulatory engagement, and operations across Southeast Asia and Australia.

Devanathan had spent more than a decade at Meta, joining in 2016 and holding several leadership roles, including leading Asia Pacific gaming, before being appointed to her most recent position in June 2024.

Her departure comes as Meta faces growing scrutiny from Indian authorities over online safety and content moderation.

Earlier this month, Meta apologized after Instagram mistakenly restricted a post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Indian government summoned Meta executives, including chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan, over the incident.

New Delhi has also raised concerns about child sexual abuse material on Meta’s platforms.

Last month, the Indian government sought an explanation after a BBC report found Instagram advertisements allegedly offering access to such content.

Meta said it removed violating ads and accounts and rejected suggestions that it knowingly targeted users with inappropriate interests; it also noted it had removed 160,000 accounts in India over six months for child-exploitative activity.

Devanathan’s appointment at OpenAI follows Prabhjeet Singh joining as India head days earlier; Singh spent over a decade at Uber leading its India and South Asia business.

OpenAI has been expanding its Asia-Pacific presence, opening offices in Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, and Delhi over the past two years.

After Devanathan’s departure, Meta’s India managing director Arun Srinivas will report directly to Benjamin Joe, vice president for Asia-Pacific.