Xiaomi India appoints former Samsung executive to bolster offline presence

NEW DELHI: Xiaomi has appointed Deepak Nakra as its offline sales head for the Indian market in a bid to strengthen its position in the offline channel, even as it aims to dethrone Samsung from the No 1 position, which it currently shares with the Korean smartphone maker.

Nakra’s appointment comes at a time when Xiaomi wants to expand its offline sales and expects nearly 30% of total sales to come from offline by early next year. He was previously working with Samsung India as director of sales (South and West India) for the company’s mobile division. “Deepak will now be leading offline sales for Xiaomi India... He has worked with several top handset brands & telecom providers and brings with him 20 years of sales and marketing experience,” Manu Jain, managing director, Xiaomi India, wrote in a Facebook post.




Xiaomi India had started its offline journey nine months ago and has already grown 20 times during this short span of time. “I’m confident that Deepak will help us strengthen this position even further,” said Jain. With aggressive launches and offline expansion, Xiaomi grabbed a 22.3% share in Q2, as per data from Counterpoint Research, head to head with Samsung that had a 22.8% share by volume.