Here is why Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg is praising India's techies as he dreams of a Metaverse future

• Mark Zuckerberg talked about India’s role in building the metaverse at the Fuel for India 2021 event.
• Zuckerberg highlighted how India’s startup, developer and creator ecosystem is already building towards the future of the metaverse.
• Meta also announced its extended partnership with CBSE.

Meta (formerly Facebook) CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he’s “really excited” about India’s role in building the metaverse. Speaking at the second edition of Fuel for India event, Zuckerberg talked about how India is already building towards the metaverse, a future he envisions will be the successor to the mobile internet.

"I am really excited about the role that India will play in building this future. India’s talent pool – the engineers, developers and creators, and your whole vibrant start-up ecosystem are playing a huge role in shaping the future. India is on track to have the largest app developer base in the world by 2024, and already has one of the largest Spark AR developer communities,” Zuckerberg said.

Zuckerberg also highlighted the developer and individual entrepreneur ecosystem in India and “the spirit around that is one of the things that makes India so special.” He added that India will provide a huge amount of the foundation for the metaverse.

Metaverse is Meta’s next major focus for the years to come and it is already on track in creating such experiences for users. The company announced its rebranding with a new name ‘Meta’ to highlight its shift and focus to the metaverse – a digital environment where people can interact with others virtually anywhere, shop, work, play games and more.

Zuckerberg also mentioned Meta’s investments in education and commerce platforms like Unacademy and Meesho, and how the company will continue to invest in these areas.

At the Fuel for India 2021 event, Meta also announced it is extending its partnership with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to educate over 10 million students and one 1 million educators through a curriculum on digital safety and online well-being and Augmented Reality (AR). Meta had also opened its first standalone office in Asia located in Gurugram.

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