Former Twitter India head Raheel Khursheed joins Snapchat as Country Expert

Snapchat India expansion became a matter of controversy when the company’s CEO Evan Spiegel allegedly called India too poor for consideration last year. He later denied the reports of demeaning India, however, the company has not announced any specific strategy for expansion in the country.

Now, things for Snapchat seems to be moving in a positive direction as the US-based company has hired former Twitter India head Raheel Khursheed to head Snapchat India operations.

He will get the official designation as Country Expert, India.

Khursheed who quit Twitter India head post in July this year will look into developing and executing cross vertical growth programs, advising on key partnerships across verticals, communications and policy strategy, outlined his social media update.

According to Khursheed, Snapchat is at an incredible crossroads in India. It has had a 75 per cent yoy growth and has a robust user base that indexes 55 per cent female.

However, the current status tells a different story as his appointment comes at a time when Snapchat is witnessing a sharp fall in its userbase. The company’s growth became a matter of concern for Industry watchers when Snapchat’s userbase shrank by three million people in the April-June quarter.

The company’s focus on India deepens after Imran Khan, Chief Strategy Officer of Snap Inc visited India recently.

Khan revealed that Snapchat is excited about India as a key market and the company has a strong plan to serve Indian Snapchatters.

According to him, 188 million people use Snapchat every day around the world and India is among our fastest-growing regions for the company.

Recently top social media in India such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have been targeted for running without their India's head.

While Ajit Mohan recently hired as FB India head, Twitter, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn are yet to appoint someone to lead India operations.