Social networking giant Facebook today announced key appointments for its Indian operations, roping in Kirthiga Reddy as the Director of its Online Operations.

The company had announced the launch of its Indian operations in March this year, with the setting up of an office in Hyderabad, to support the growing number of users, advertisers and developers in India and globally.

India has more than eight million active users on Facebook and the number is increasing at a rapid pace.

Facebook competes with the likes of Orkut, Flickr and MySpace globally.

As Director of Online Operations, Reddy will head Facebook's operations in India, supporting its growing number of users, advertisers and developers worldwide, Facebook said in a statement.

Reddy and the India team will also be instrumental in developing effective relationships with government officials at the city, state and national levels, it added.

She joins Facebook from Phoenix Technologies, where she served as Vice-President and General Manager, heading Phoenix India's team in Bangalore. She has also served in Motorola's Good Technology Group, based in Hyderabad.

The company has also appointed Manoj Varghese as the Director of User Operations. He will specialise in building a user support team to serve Facebook users globally.

Varghese joins Facebook from Google, where he served as Director of People Operations, responsible for HR and staffing in the Japan and Asia-Pacific regions. He has been associated with Dell, Infosys and Maruti Suzuki.

Facebook also intends to expand its management team in India, adding leadership that will specialise in spearheading local programmes and building partner relationships, it said.

"We've spent the past few months searching globally for a strong candidate capable of leading Facebook's ambitious operations in India. We are confident that the people will be excellent liaisons between the company and Facebook's user base," Facebook Director (Global Online Operations) Don Faul said.