Xiaomi elevates India Head Manu Kumar Jain as Global VP

Chinese handset maker Xiaomi has elevated its India Head Manu Kumar Jain to a global role as its Vice President.

"Manu, congratulations from the entire Xiaomi family on your promotion to Vice President of Xiaomi!," Xiaomi said in a Facebook post.

Under Jain's leadership, Xiaomi's operations in India expanded from a small team into the second largest smartphone vendor in the country with 10.7 per cent market share, the post added.

Apart from being the VP of the company, Jain will also be Managing Director, Xiaomi India.

Industry watchers said Jain's elevation indicates the importance of the Indian market, which is one of the fastest growing one globally. Xiaomi crossed the USD 1 billion revenue mark in India last year.

Recently, Xiaomi's Vice President Hugo Barra had put in his papers to return to the Silicon Valley and lead Facebook's virtual-reality efforts, including the Oculus VR.

Barra was considered as the face of the company and his exit was seen as a big blow to the Xiaomi's international ambitions.