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Hetal Sonpal is LinkedIn India director-strategic sales
MUMBAI: LinkedIn has appointed Hetal Sonpal as director-strategic sales for India in order to further strengthen the professional networks‘ leadership team.
Sonpal joins in from Microsoft Corporation where he was lead- Telecom Alliances. At LinkedIn he will identify and build strategic relationships in the marketing and recruitment ecosystems. He will be focused on building and strengthening relationships with key clients and oversee the execution of strategic deals to help accelerate the growth of LinkedIn in India.
LinkedIn India country manager Hari V Krishnan said, “Having had operations in India for over two years now, LinkedIn has emerged as a platform of choice for recruiters and brands seeking to engage with an influential and highly educated audience. We have built a strong business across India with high quality sales and marketing professionals and Hetal‘s addition to the leadership team will add value and scale to our operations. It reinforces our commitment to our customers in India as we seek to build strong long-term relationships with our partners across the country.”
Sonpal brings in over 13 years of experience and will work closely with LinkedIn Marketing Solutions and LinkedIn Hiring Solutions.
Prior to Microsoft, he has also worked with Wipro for over 11 years and was serving as regional sales head for North India before moving.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
