Sanjay Kaul quits as Apple’s India Sales head

Sanjay Kaul

Apple’s India head of Sales, Sanjay Kaul has resigned from his position with immediate effect amidst reports of slow pace of growth recorded in over five years for the fiscal year ended March 2017.

Sources familiar with the matter say he has been replaced by Michel Coulomb.

Coulomb had earlier led Apple’s operations in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa before moving into Singapore last year as chief of South Asia. He has been with the Cupertino-based iPhone maker for over 15 years

“Sanjay has moved on, he will no longer be heading India operations,” one of the people privy to the development told ET, asking not to be named.

Apple is yet to issue an official statement on the matter.

Reports also say that Sanjay Kaul is likely to begin another venture in an industry that may not be directly connected to the mobile phones business.

TimesofIndia reports that the company’s revenue growth for the year ended March 2017 also slowed to 17% on year at Rs 11,618.7 crore, compared with about 40% annually in the five years to FY16.

“The choice for Apple is clear: To retain its existing market share, it will have to ramp up local manufacturing in India,” said Prabhu Ram, head of the industry intelligence group at CyberMedia Research.

“Apple will certainly see its modest market share erode further. Increase in iPhone prices will push new customers to other exciting Android smartphone brands in India,” he cautioned.

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