Xiaomi India | Alvin Tse: Xiaomi India names Alvin Tse as India head, Anuj Sharma as CMO in big rejig

Xiaomi India Friday said it has appointed Alvin Tse, who will join the company as general manager, replacing Manu Kumar Jain’s leadership role in the company. The organisational rejig will have Anuj Sharma return as the chief marketing officer.

Former vice president and managing director, Jain, who stepped down as an employee in September last year, after serving seven years in the company, has transitioned to a global role as group vice president and is currently responsible for international strategy, marketing and PR.

Stanford educated, a British national, Alvin Tse was in charge of the company’s Indonesia business as the general manager. He is one of the founding members of the now independent Xiaomi sub-brand Poco.

Xiaomi India is currently being led jointly by Muralikrishnan B, chief operating officer, Raghu Reddy, chief business officer, and Sameer BS Rao, chief financial officer, in the absence of Jain who stepped down as an employee in October last year, and as director in February. They will continue with their present roles in the company after the restructuring.

The former country lead of Poco India, Anuj Sharma will rejoin Xiaomi India as the chief marketing officer, and will be responsible for leading the overall brand and marketing strategy. “He will play an instrumental role in bolstering Xiaomi’s connect with consumers across the nation,” the company said.

The organisational changes come amidst strong scrutiny on the smartphone market leader by government agencies. The enforcement directorate has passed a seizure order of Xiaomi’s assets worth over Rs 5500 crore, accusing the company to have violated the foreign exchange rules, for remitting money out of the country under the guise of royalties.

Xiaomi India has denied any wrongdoing.

The Karnataka High Court has issued an interim stay on the ED order, till the next hearing on June 8, allowing the company to continue day-to-day activities and pay for imports of essential items, with the exclusion of royalty payments, by availing bank overdraft.

The company had filed a writ petition against the enforcement agency where it accused ED of threats of physical violence to senior executives of the company during the FEMA probe. The agency, however, has called it untrue and baseless.

While the company has been the smartphone market leader in India for the past three years, its market share has steadily declined – from 27% in Q4 2019 to 23% in Q1 2022, according to Counterpoint Research data. Its rivals Samsung and Realme have been closing the gap at a faster pace. Samsung had 20% of the smartphone market while Realme closed Q1 2022 with 16% share.