Ranjit Yadav to head Samsung mobile & IT business division

Gurgaon: Hot on the heels of the news of Ravi Swaminathan's exit from HP and speculation over the merger of HP's printer and PC division comes the news of Sunil Dutt, Country Head, Samsung India taking over Swaminathan's role.

Dutt will replace Swaminathan who was President-Personal Systems Group, HP India and will report to Neelam Dhawan, MD, HP India.

Meanwhile, Ranjit Singh Yadav, who was heading the IT business in Samsung India has been appointed to look after the mobile business as well. “Our mobile business has been growing from strength-to-strength and I am looking forward to the opportunity of leveraging the synergies across both the telecom and IT divisions and fueling the growth of both these businesses,” said Yadav who will take over his new role as Director-IT and Telecom, Samsung India Electronics from November 1.

An official from Samsung confirmed that Dutt, who is currently on vacation till end of October, is technically on their rolls till end of this month.

When contacted Dutt confirmed that he has left Samsung to join HP.

Prior to joining Samsung, Dutt had worked in Nokia India as Director-Sales, where he was responsible for driving sales and building a strong distribution and retail backbone for the company.

He has been actively involved with the growth of Indian mobile industry and has been one of the pioneers in building the channel for mobiles, driving penetration and retail development for mobile handset business in the country. Having been associated with the telecom industry since 2002, Dutt has deep knowledge of the Indian telecom market.

A few weeks back when DQ Channels had reported that Swaminatha had put in his papers the IT channel had expressed apprehension over the news; not knowing who would come in his place. The news of Dutt's appointment is sure to offer respite to the channel.