Manu Kumar Jain, co-founder and former managing director, Jabong.com has been appointed the general manager (GM) for India at Xiaomi.
Manu Kumar Jain, co-founder and former managing director, Jabong.com has been appointed the general manager (GM) for India at Xiaomi.
Hugo Barra, VP, Xiaomi Global, confirmed the news on micro-blogging site Twitter. “Hugely excited to have Jain onboard and running at full speed as Xiaomi’s India GM,” he wrote in a tweet.
Jain, who had started Jabong in 2012 along with Arun Chandra Mohan, Praveen Sinha, Lakshmi Potluri and Mukul Bafana, had left the company in January this year. At the time, it was reported that he had left the start-up to launch his own venture.
Prior to Jabong, Jain had co-created DINK Couple, a cartoon series inspired by real life experiences. He had also earlier worked at companies like McKinsey & Company, Tata Administrative Services and Headstrong. He holds a B.Tech degree in mechanical engineering from IIT Delhi and a PGDM in business management from IIM Calcutta.
For entering India, Xiaomi will open up an office in the country and tie up with telecom operators in the country. The company will sell its smartphones directly via its e-commerce site. In 2012, Xiaomi sold 7.2 million smartphones, and then more than doubled this number to 18.7 million handsets last year. The company is now looking to increase this number to 40 million handsets in 2014.
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