Former Star and Disney head Sanjay Gupta has been appointed as Country Manager for Google India. His appointment comes after the top India position remained vacant for eight months after Rajan Anandan quit in April this year to join Sequoia Capital. 

Gupta will also serve as Vice President of Sales and Operations for India. Vikas Agnihotri, currently Google's country director for sales in India, was serving as the Internet giant's interim Managing Director.

Scott Beaumont, President of APAC, Google said “Our ongoing engagement in India is a source of pride for both our Googlers in India but also around the world. Our Indian operation is important and strategic for its own sake but also for the innovation which then feeds breakthroughs elsewhere in Google. We are delighted to have Sanjay join us. We are excited to combine his expertise, experience and leadership with our teams and build further on our existing efforts in this highly dynamic, competitive and exciting digital economy, looking to build a more helpful and inclusive Internet for everyone in India.”

Gupta, an alumnus of IIM Kolkata, joins Google from Star and Disney India, where he was serving as the company’s Managing Director. At Star and Disney, he was instrumental in making it the country’s largest media company and ramping up its digital footprint with Hotstar. In addition, he also built Star’s sports business through acquisitions of cricketing properties and the launch of the Pro-Kabaddi League and football league, Indian Super League. Prior to that, he has also worked at HUL and Bharti Airtel as Chief Marketing Officer.

On his appointment, Gupta stated that he is delighted to take on the challenge of leading and shaping Google’s charter in India. "It is an exciting opportunity to leverage the power of technology to solve some of India’s unique challenges and make Internet an engine of economic growth for people and communities. I am happy to join the passionate teams across Google and look forward to contributing to India’s digital journey as it becomes an innovation hub for the world.”

As India forges ahead on its way to become one of the world’s largest Internet economy, Gupta’s expertise will be something the technology giant will be looking forward to leveraging to stay ahead of its competitors. 

Image source: Economic Times