Apple has named Michel Coulomb as the head of sales for its operations in India, a key market for the iconic iPhone maker.
He succeeds Sanjay Kaul, who has stepped down from the post. When contacted, the company confirmed the development.
Coulomb is a veteran at Apple and has held various roles from 2003 onwards. Most recently, he was the Managing Director (South Asia).
He also has the experience of handling the Middle East, Turkey and Africa sales team, according to his LinkedIn profile.
India, which is among the fastest growing smartphone markets globally, is one of the key bets for the Cupertino- based company.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has, on many occasions, highlighted that the company is very "bullish" and "optimistic" about the India market and that the company is bringing all of its "energies" to expand footprint.
According to reports citing regulatory documents, Apple India had posted 17 per cent growth in sales at Rs 11,619 crore for the year ended March 2017. This is against an annual growth of 53 per cent in the previous year.
The reports suggested that Apple's performance in India could come under further stress after the government's move to increase customs duty to 15 per cent for imported smartphones.
All iPhone models, except for the iPhone SE, are imported.
Industry watchers said the increase in price -- by an average of 3.5 per cent -- could increase difficulties for the US-based company in the price-sensitive Indian handset market.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
