NEW DELHI: Nokia India today announced the appointment of D.Shivakumar as Vice President and Country General Manager for Customer and Market operations -India with effect from May 1, 2006.

In this role, Shivakumar will be responsible for growing Nokia's mobile phones business in India while providing strategic direction and operational focus. Besides consolidating Nokia's market presence, Shivakumar will focus on building the Nokia brand, driving partnerships and strategic alliances and developing the capabilities of the Nokia organization in India.

Announcing the appointment, Urpo Karjalainen, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific, Nokia, said, “Shivakumar will join us on 14 April 2006 to enable a smooth transition. I am also very excited about Sanjeev Sharma's move to Vice President MP/CMO marketing Asia Pacific, based in Singapore, as he brings a wealth of experience to the region from one of our fastest growing markets.”

Shivakumar brings with him over two decades of experience in the consumer market in India and has been heading Consumer Electronics business for Philips India as Senior VP and Executive Director on the Philips India board. Prior to this Shivakumar spent several years with Hindustan Levers in various sales, marketing and business head roles and his last assignment in Levers was heading the Hair Care business. Shivakumar is a graduate of IIT Chennai and a post graduate in Management from IIM, Kolkata.

Sanjeev will continue to head the India business till the end of April and hand over to Shivakumar at the end of the transition period.