Storyboard18 | Leadership changes at Xiaomi continue

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After serving as chief operating officer of Xiaomi India since 2018, Muralikrishnan B has been appointed as president of the company. In his new role, the IIM-Calcutta alumnus will be responsible for day-to-day operations, services, public affairs, and strategic projects and "will continue to work towards strengthening the company's commitment towards the Make in India and Digital India initiative," the company said in a statement.

Raghu Reddy, who is chief business officer, will get additional responsibilities as the sales head, as per an Economic Times report.

These latest developments in organisational restructuring come amidst intense scrutiny of Chinese companies by Indian government agencies.

In April this year, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) booked Xiaomi Technology India for allegedly making illegal foreign remittances in violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). Xiaomi India is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the China-based Xiaomi group.

As per reports, Xiaomi's Manu Kumar Jain was also questioned by the ED.

In other senior management changes in the past month, Alvin Tse, who was Xiaomi Global founding team member and former GM of Xiaomi Indonesia was appointed as general manager of Xiaomi India.

Anuj Sharma, who was handling the sub-brand Poco, returned to Xiaomi as its chief marketing officer.

And Manu Kumar Jain, who was earlier the managing director for Xiaomi India and the face of the brand, was named group VP (global) with the responsibility for International Strategy including International Marketing and PR.

The CMO exit 

Also in April this year, Jaskaran Singh Kapany, the chief marketing officer of Xiaomi India, moved on within a year of joining. He came on board in June 2021 and led all marketing initiatives across the company in both the smartphone and smart TV segments which continue to be a hyper-competitive market in India.

Company insiders felt that the CMO wanted to explore opportunities outside of the world of the Chinese smartphone category, Storyboard18 had reported at the time.

Chinese smartphone makers have been under intense government scrutiny in the past two years. In 2021, the Economic Times reported that India is exploring a regulation that may mandate teardown or in-depth testing of handsets to ensure that the devices and installed apps are not snooping on the citizens; the move was seen as a retaliation for the continued Chinese aggression on the India-China border.

In 2020, Xiaomi was among the few Chinese companies that faced backlash in India and calls from various quarters for boycotting of Chinese products after the India-China border standoff. The company has been on overdrive, pushing the 'Made in India' branding ever since.