Manu Jain quits Xiaomi Group

The former Xiaomi India head was associated with the smartphone maker for almost a decade.

Manu Kumar Jain, former Xiaomi India head, has quit the Xiaomi Group after almost a decade-long association. Announcing his exit on LinkedIn, he said that he will take some time-off before rejoining the Indian startup ecosystem with “another fulfilling challenge.”

“After nine years, I am moving on from the Xiaomi Group. I feel confident that now is the right time, as we have strong leadership teams across the world,” Jain wrote.

He joined Xiaomi in 2014 and was among the initial employees of the company. He started Xiaomi India’s journey along with Google's former VP Hugo Barra. 

“We started as a one-person startup, working from a small little office. We were the smallest amongst the hundreds of smartphone brands, that too with limited resources and no prior relevant industry experience. But due to the efforts of a fantastic team, we were able to build one of the most loved brands in the country,” he wrote in his farewell note.

Before joining the smartphone maker, he co-founded Jabong, an e-commerce platform, in 2013.

He moved to Dubai in July 2021 to take on a global role as vice president, Xiaomi International looking after strategies and growth.

He highlighted some of his proud moments from his time at Xiaomi, including Xiaomi becoming the number one smartphone brand in India, receiving an investment from Ratan Tata, meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, generating over 50,000 jobs in India, and being a catalyst for Make in India with 100% of its smartphones and TVs being manufactured locally.