Broadband India Forum appoints Meta’s Shivnath Thukral as Vice President

Broadband India Forum (BIF), an independent policy forum and think-tank that oversees the development of the entire broadband ecosystem in India, has announced the appointment of Shivnath Thukral, director and head of public policy at Meta India, as its new vice president.

Thukral will play a pivotal role in driving BIF's mission to promote high-quality broadband connectivity across the country, BIF said in a statement.

“With his extensive experience and skills in various projects and assignments, we are confident that he will bring valuable contributions to BIF's growth and success and take it to the next level of excellence,” TV Ramachandran, President of Broadband India Forum, said in a statement.

Besides, Thukral, the senior leadership team of BIF now comprises Aruna Sundararajan IAS (Retd.), Former Secretary (Telecom), Department of Telecommunications, as Chairperson, Ramachandran, CEO & Founder, advisory@TVR, as President, Ashwani Rana, Chief Public Policy Officer, India, Zupee, as Vice President and Satya N Gupta, Chairman of Board, Bluetown India and BIMSTEC, South Asia, as Treasurer.

The forum looks forward to leveraging Thukral's expertise to collaborate with stakeholders, advocate for favourable policies, and bridge the digital divide, the statement said.

In November last year, Thukral was appointed as Meta India’s new director of public policy for all Meta brands. This appointment followed the exits of Abhijit Bose, WhatsApp India head, and Meta’s head of public policy Rajiv Aggarwal. It was also during the time Meta sacked 11,000 or 13% of its workforce globally. Same month, Meta’s India chief Ajit Mohan also stepped down from the company reportedly moved to social media firm Snap.