Google appoints former Star India MD Sanjay Gupta to head India ops

After a seven-month hunt for an ideal candidate to head its India operation, Google has finally roped in former Star and Disney India MD Sanjay Gupta as its new country manager.

Gupta, who will also be the vice president of sales and operations, will succeed Rajan Anandan who left to join Sequoia Capital India as MD in April.

After Anandan's departure, Vikas Agnihotri, the country director of sales, was given interim responsibility to take care of Google's India operations.

Terming the appoint as an exciting opportunity, Gupta said that he looks forward to leveraging the power of technology to solve some of India’s unique challenges and make the Internet an engine of economic growth for people and communities.

For Google, India has been a key market where it eyes to make headway in the content and payment space. The search giant is also in talks with startups such as retail tech firms Perpule and Peel-Works for a potential investment or acquisition.

In comparison to last year, Google's India business has witnessed a 55.5% decline in revenue to Rs 4,147 crore in FY19. In 2018-19, Google's revenue from sales of advertisements also marginally went down in 2018-19, revealed the RoC filings.

Gupta has been brought in to help the search giant achieve scale in the country.

"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,” said Scott Beaumont, President of APAC, Google.

Notably, Gupta is the second senior executive to leave Star India within a year's time. Last year, former Hotstar CEO Ajit Mohan had left to join Facebook in January.