Meta launches first standalone office in Asia

Meta (formerly known as Facebook), on Wednesday has set an ambitious goal of training one crore small businesses and entrepreneurs and 2.50 lakh creators in the next three years through its Centre for Fuelling India’s New Economy (C-FINE) opened in Gurugram (Haryana).

The centre is one of Meta’s largest offices in Asia. The new office will house various teams from Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

“Over the next three years, we will attempt to train and skill one crore small businesses and 2,50,000 creators through the centre. We realise this is no small task, but we recognise that we have an obligation to rise to the unique opportunity presented by the forces of technology transforming India,” said Ajit Mohan, Vice President and Managing Director, Facebook India (Meta).

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He said the C-FINE — a multifunctional centre — will bring together all Meta’s products and its mission will be to use technology and tools being built by the company to fuel growth for creators, small businesses and entrepreneurs in the country.

“India is not just the largest country for Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. It is also where, in many ways, the future of the internet is being shaped. We see this office as an opportunity for Meta to build a space that does not just house our largest team in the country, but will also be a space that deeply engages with the world outside,” Mohan said.

Meta in India began in Hyderabad with 20 people, one app and less than 15 million users. Today, it has more than four-crore users and multiple apps including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

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Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, who inaugurated the C-FINE said that technology is deeply and almost irreversibly changing the trajectory of the country, and the power of the internet lies in its ability to fuel a new economy, entrepreneurship and innovation.

“While there will always be a debate about user harm and the proliferations of problems created by the expanding internet, we must focus on keeping the internet open, safe, trusted and accountable in all ways and for all Indians,” Chandrasekhar said.

He added that all big Internet companies have tremendous ability to influence the trajectory in good or bad ways for entrepreneurship, for citizens, and societies at large.