Former Samsung India Mobile Chief Vineet Taneja Joins Micromax As CEO
“We are witnessing an inflection point in the smart devices globally. Therefore, it is a great opportunity for me to lead Micromax into its next phase of growth by consolidating and further strengthening its position in India, and looking at global markets to complete its transition of becoming a global force to reckon with,” Taneja said. The company’s former CEO Deepak Mehrotra had quit the firm in October last year, citing personal reasons, and Sharma was managing affairs in the interim.
Earlier this month, reports of Taneja quitting Samsung had surfaced, but the company had declined to comment saying it “does not comment on rumor or speculation.” Similar to global trends, Samsung is the market leader in smartphone category in India too, a segment that grew almost three-fold to over 44 million in 2013. This surge was buoyed by a strong uptake of affordable devices made by local firms such as Micromax and Karbonn. While Samsung led the category (38 percent), Micromax had 16 percent, Karbonn (10 percent), Sony (5 percent) and Lava (4.7 percent) in the fourth quarter of 2013. In the overall mobile phone segment too, it was the number one player with a 19 percent share in Q4 2013, according to research firm IDC.
