Xiaomi’s Global Vice President Manu Jain Has Been Called To Resign

Jain was the poster boy of Xiaomi’s growth in India and was among the founding members of the India team along with former Google executive Hugo Barra. Jain took on a more global role at Xiaomi, along with his position in India, following Barra’s departure in 2017.

Last year, media reports said that Jain had quietly moved Dubai Even though Xiaomi was facing investigation by India Enforcement Directorate (ed), although Jain claimed that the move actually happened in 2021.

In April 2022, Jain was summoned by the ED to join the probe into alleged violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

The government agency had accused Xiaomi India of diverting foreign currency out of the country in the name of royalty payments to its Chinese parent company. ED also seized Xiaomi worth the property of india 5,551.27 crores.

In June 2022, Xiaomi India announced that one of its global founding team members, Alvin Tse, would take over as the General Manager of Xiaomi India. Anuj Sharma, who headed Xiaomi spin-off Poco India, took over as chief marketing officer at the same time, while Muralikrishnan B was promoted to the role of president, Xiaomi India, which he holds till date.

Xiaomi became the top smartphone brand in India in 2017 under Jain’s leadership, and managed to retain that position until the fourth quarter of 2022, when it was dethroned by Samsung.

Xiaomi India confirmed Jain’s move in a statement. “In a short span of 7 years at Xiaomi India, Manu Kumar Jain was instrumental in the company’s success, making it India’s most loved and trusted brand. “We would like to thank him for his valuable contribution to the business and the smartphone industry in India and wish him success in his future endeavors and activities,” the company said.

In a tweet, Jain said he would be “taking some time off” and hinted at the possibility of starting his own venture.

“I’m a builder at heart and would ideally love to build something new in a new industry,” he tweeted. “If you have interesting ideas that could empower millions of people, I’d love to talk.”

Prior to joining Xiaomi, Jain was the Managing Director at Jabong, a lifestyle e-commerce firm that he co-founded with Praveen Sinha and Arun Chandra Mohan. He holds a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi and a Business Management degree from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta.