Sanjay Malik, Senior Vice President and Head of Nokia India
Nokia on Tuesday announced that it has appointed Tarun Chhabra as the new head of Nokia India. The change in leadership comes as the company faces challenging market conditions and has announced plans to cut 11,000 to 14,000 jobs globally.
Tarun Chhabra, who previously served as Nokia’s Head of Mobile Networks and Senior Vice President, will assume his new role with effect from April 2024. He replaces Sanjay Malik, who led Nokia’s India market operations for nearly eight years.
Despite Nokia’s robust financial performance in the Indian market last year, driven by major 5G contracts with leading telecom operators, the company has seen a slowdown in 5G rollout by Indian telcos. This resulted in a 33% decline in net sales in the India region between October and December 2023.
The exact number of layoffs in India has not been disclosed, but the global job cuts are expected to cut Nokia’s costs by a cumulative €1.2 billion (nearly $1.3 billion) by the end of 2026. In 2022, Nokia had 86,900 employees. around 130 locations worldwide, including approximately 38,000 in Europe. The cost-cutting measures are a response to a 20% year-on-year drop in net sales for the third quarter to €4.98 billion and a 69% drop in profit over the same period to €133 million.
As Nokia moves through these changes, the company remains focused on long-term growth, sustainability, operational excellence and customer satisfaction.
