After shutting down 'Free Basics', Facebook's India head Kirthiga Reddy steps down to move to US

A day after shutting down 'Free Basics' scheme in India, Facebook's India head Kirthiga Reddy is stepping down from her post to return to the US headquarters. 

In her post in Facebook, she wrote, "Our two daughters start high school and middle school this coming year— which serves as a natural transition point to make this move back."

She shared her experience and said that over the last six years, she had the privilege to be part of the amazing growth journey of Facebook in India. 

"When my family relocated to India, we knew that we would move back to the US some day. It's a bittersweet moment to share that the return timeframe is coming up in the next 6-12 months"

She further added that she will be working closely with William Easton, Managing Director of Emerging Markets (APAC) and Dan APAC) and Dan Neary, VP Asia Pacific to find a successor for her. 

"As I do this, I continue to experience the same aha moments as I did in my first few weeks at Facebook -- that our mission is so much bigger, the opportunities are so much larger, and each facebooker is so much more jaw-dropping-inspiring than one thinks possible," she added.

Just a day ago, Facebook had accepted defeat to Trai and shut its 'Free Basics' programme in India.

Earlier this week, Trai had delivered its verdict on differential pricing favouring Net Neutrality which came as blow to Facebook's 'Free Basics'. Post the ruling Facebook Director and Silicon Valley maven Marc Andreessen put out a derogatory tweet likening India’s forfeiting of Free Basics to being anti-colonialism and Mark Zuckerberg reacted strongly to it. 

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