Apple appoints company veteran Michel Coulomb as head of country operations in India, after Sanjay Kaul steps down

Cupertino-based tech giant Apple has appointed company veteran, Michel Coulomb as the head of country operations for India. The move came immediately after former country head Sanjay Kaul stepped down from his post.

Associated with Apple for over a period spanning 14 years, Michel Coulomb will be leaving his current office as the managing director for South Asia operations at Apple and replace Kaul with immediate effect.

While the reason for the change in guard is not entirely clear, a report by the Economic Times attributed the change to Apple’s slow growth for the financial year ending on March 2018. The publication stated that Apple had posted its slowest growth in India this financial year in half a decade.

As per the report, the announcement was made by Apple’s head of emerging markets Hugues Asseman at Apple India’s annual sales conference in Goa, where Kaul was said to be absent. Coulomb who will report to Asseman has earlier headed Apple operations in the Middle East, Turkey and even Africa. The French national will be country head after the previous two individuals who held office were both of Indian origin.

The announcement also coincides with the company’s decision to increase prices across its iPhone range, apart from the iPhone SE which Apple makes in Bengaluru. The move to hike prices was soon after the government raised customs duty on smartphone imported to India by 5 percent to 15 percent.

Contrary to the issues being faced by Apple in terms of sales in the company, CEO Tim Cook in his Q4 earnings call had said that the company’s revenue in India had doubled year-over-year. Cook also added that iPad sales in the country were also up by 39 percent.