D Shivakumar, Nokia's emerging markets head, quits after eight-year stint

28 MAR, 2013, 06.47PM IST, JOJI THOMAS PHILIP,ET BUREAU 

NEW DELHI: Nokia's operations head for India, West Asia and Africa, D Shivakumar has quit the Finnish handset major after an eight-year stint with the company. 

Shivakumar, who is currently based out of Dubai, and oversees the beleaguered handset major's operations in about 90 countries, told ETthat he was headed back to India after the June quarter as he 'believed that opportunities and growth were here'. 

Before moving to a global role in late 2011, Shivakumar was heading Nokia's operations in India. 

Nokia's Senior Vice President for emerging markets - India, Middle East and Africa Region - declined to reveal where he would be joining on returning to India, but said that he would not be associated with mobility, telecommunications and FMCG in his future endeavors.

Prior to joining Nokia India in 2006, he was heading the consumer electronics business of Philips . Shivakumar had passed out fromIIT Madras in 1982 and IIM Calcuttain 1984. 

"When I joined Nokia, India had about 80 mobile phone subscribers. Today it is over 900 million. I believe that Nokia too had a role to play in this along with mobile operators," he said. 

This period also saw Nokia losing its dominance globally in the handset space and it now trails South Korea'sSamsung in both volumes and value. 

From the heydays of over 70% market share a couple of years ago, when it dominated the handset scene here, the company currently accounts for only about a fourth of the handset sales in India. 

But despite falling sales, India continues to be the second largest market for the Finnish handset major after China. India generated revenues to the tune of 2.227 billion in 2012 as against 2.923 billion in 2011 and 2.952 billion in 2010, Nokia said in its annual report. Globally, Nokia betting on the latest range from Lumia line will bring about its long-hoped for recovery. In January 2013, the handset major said its fourth quarter results had exceeded expectations and added that the sales of its Windows-based Lumia had nearly doubled, when compared the previous quarter in the same year. This also marked the first increase in its smartphone numbers in a year.