Apple India Sales Head Sanjay Kaul quits; Michael Coulomb to replace

Apple India Sales Head Sanjay Kaul has resigned from the company. Kaul, who was elevated to the position in May last year, has stepped down with an immediate effect. Michael Coulomb will replace him and take over the Sales operation of the country. The Economic Times had first reported that Kaul would be quitting the company.

Coulomb has been with Apple since 2003 and was considered a key executive of Apple CEO Tim Cook. He has earlier led Apple's operations in the Middle East, Tukey, and Africa before moving into Singapore last year as chief of South Asia, his Linkedin profile said.

The changes were announced by Apple's head of emerging markets Hugues Asseman on Monday during Apple India's annual sales conference in Goa, two senior industry executives said. Coulomb will report to Asseman.

While the reason why Kaul resigned from the company is unknown. It is expected that the sluggish growth of the company may be the prime reason for his resignation. The company recorded sales of Rs 11,619 crore($1.8 billion) for the year ended March 2017. While this translates to 17 percent growth, it is inferior in comparison to the 53 percent growth the year before.

Kaul's resignation comes on a day when the company increased the price of iPhones by an average of 3.5 percent after the government raised the price of basic customs duty(BCD) on mobile phones imported to India to 15 percent from 10 percent in a bid to encourage Make In India initiative.