Twitter’s India head Rishi Jaitly quits after 4-year stint

BENGALURU/NEW DELHI: Twitter India Head Rishi Jaitly has quit after four years at the company. Announcing his exit on Twitter through a series of tweets on Tuesday morning, Jaitly said he is quitting for “a personal/civic calling” in Chicago, but he noted that he would spend significant time in India/Asia, and continue to work in the field of technology. “My mission remains the same: harness tech/media’s scale to connect users/citizens to their voice/agency/leadership in places they care about. I myself care deeply about the US, India, emerging markets & intend to devote myself to building bridges in service of my mission,” Jaitly said on Twitter.

“We thank Rishi Jaitly for his contributions, entrepreneurship and leadership over the past four years at Twitter. He was our first person on the ground to bring Twitter into the high-growth Indian market; He has created bold, strategic partnerships to enter and grow new markets for Twitter; and has successfully built up our Media Partnerships teams across the Asia Pacific and Middle East,” a Twitter spokesperson told ET in a statement.

“There will be a smooth transition as his last day is in late November after which he will move back to the US, but will remain engaged in India, as he pursues new opportunities to harness the power of technology and scale of mass media to empower voices, particularly in emerging markets,” the spokesperson added. Twitter, however, declined to disclose any information on replacement for Jaitly's role.

Former Google India executive Jaitly had joined Twitter in November 2012 to lead the microblogging giant's expansion to India.

In 2014, he took on additional responsibility as Twitter’s Market Director for India & SE Asia, leading the company’s growth and media partnerships across SE Asia. Last August, Jaitly was made the Vice-President (Media) for Asia Pacific & Middle East North Africa regions. Prior to joining Twitter, Jaitly worked at Knight Foundation as Program Director. However, he is better known for his stint as the head of Public-Private Partnerships at Google India.