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Xiaomi India’s MD hands over offline retail biz to COO; to focus on new areas

Xiaomi India’s managing director Manu Kumar Jain would play a key role in deciding the Chinese electronic company’s entry into newer global markets and product categories, while chief operating officer Muralikrishnan B will helm the offline expansion. The entry into brick and mortar stores was till now spearheaded by Jain.

Three senior industry executives said that while Jain will continue in his existing role of India MD, he will allocate disproportionate time to anchor these strategic initiatives and mentor new projects, both for India and global operations. The role shift, announced internally last week, is effective this month.

Considered the poster boy of the smartphone industry in the country, Jain is one of the rare Indian executives featuring in the top leadership team of a Chinese company as a global vice president. He is the only expat in the CXO team at Xiaomi Corp.

Xiaomi wants to enter new markets and categories banking on the success in India where it overtook deep pocketed and well-entrenched Samsung more than two years ago to become the largest smartphone maker. It also claims leadership in smart televisions in India, a category it entered less than two years ago.

Jain will head the expansion of newer categories, such as smart televisions, and expand presence in internet connected devices and home appliances in India. He also handles Xiaomi’s operations of Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka from India, which is the SAARC base for the company.

Xiaomi has also decided to expand the width of its presence in offline market in India and is seeking to double offline sales this year to strengthen and widen the lead over Samsung and Realme, the executives said.

A Xiaomi India spokesperson did not respond to queries.

Xiaomi India’s director for offline sales Sunil Baby will report to Muralikrishnan. Raghu Reddy, who leads all categories and online sales, will continue in his role. Reddy and Muralikrishnan will report to Jain.

The company recently announced it has sold one million devices in the Indian offline market last Friday. Xiaomi currently has an offline presence of more than 2,500 Mi Stores, 75-plus Mi Home and more than 20 Mi Studios. Besides, it also has a presence in more than 7,000 multi-brand stores that operate as preferred partners.

Source: Economic Times