Nokia India Head P Balaji Quits

| Updated: Thursday, August 7, 2014, 13:42 [IST]

In July 2014, Microsoft's new CEO Satya Nadella announced saying that there would be 18,000 job cuts next year of which 12,500 would be from Nokia's devices and services division that the company acquired recently.

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Now prior to the sad commencement of the job cuts, P Balaji, Managing Director of Nokia India, (Microsoft devices Group) has quit the company. According to Microsoft's spokesperson, the senior personnel quit because of personal reason.

P Balaji who joined the company from Sony Mobile Communications back in July 2012, will however, be an Advisor to MDG and Ajey Mehta who is the current Head of Sales Operations, India Middle East and Africa, until October 2014.

While the company looks for candidates, Ajey Mehta, the head of sales operations, India Middle East and Africa (IMEA) will be taking care of Balaji's responsibilities in India.

Microsoft's spokesperson reportedly said that P. Balaji has led the Nokia team through one of our most competitive periods, when asked about Balaji's departure. However, with the latest Q2 report from CounterPoint which suggests the fall of Nokia position, Nokia must surely miss Balaji.

Moreover, Nokia is also way back at No. 5 in the fast-growing smartphone space, lagging leaders Samsung and Micromax by wide margins. Also Nokia has slipped to second position in the feature phone segment, which has happened for the first time in several years. Thus, who ever gets the seat of the Balaji might have to work little harder to bring up its position in the market.