Garmin appoints new Country Head to strengthen its focus on India

Garmin India has strengthened its presence in India and continues to grow in double-digits. Backed up by its popular range of smartwatches in the fitness and wellness segment, the brand aims to boost its business continuously in India. To drive growth and development, the brand has announced the appointment of Yeshudas Pillai as the new Country Head for its India operations. With this appointment, the brand wants to intensify its focus to reach a larger set of audience, speed up growth initiatives and elevate its brand positioning.

Addressing the occasion, Sky Chen, Regional Director, South-East Asia & India said, “At Garmin, we firmly believe in prioritizing the needs of our consumers. We see great potential in the Indian market where we’ve recorded 32% YoY Growth till Q3 2022 as per Garmin Connect. Venu series from the wellness segment contributed the most with a 65% YoY growth till Q3 2022 as per Garmin Connect. We have seen a growth in the preference for mid high range ($300 and above) smartwatches over the last couple of years in India. Looking at this trend, we are bullish on the premium segment and plan to expand our offerings. Also, there is a sharp increase in the activity trend, where we see uptake in outdoor activities which resonates well with our product line. For Garmin, we see India becoming one of the top 3 markets in the Asia region in the next 5 years.”

After setting the precedent with its quality and premium products, Garmin currently has brand stores in Delhi NCR, Bangalore and Pune. The brand aims to expand its presence across markets by opening brand stores which will also double up as a service collection point by the end of 2023. Garmin has been known for cutting-edge GPS navigation products for almost three decades. Some of the recently launched product offerings in India, embodies Garmin’s philosophy of offering users with compelling design and superior quality at a competitive price. With an aim to strengthen its positioning across India, the brand will bolster its data monitoring mechanism with ‘Garmin Health API’.

Joining Garmin, Yesudas Pillai, Country Head, Garmin India said, ‘I have always been a great believer of innovation and technology and the potential it has to change the moving world. I am excited to join the Garmin team and accelerate its growth in India. I look forward to working with the Garmin global leadership team and providing strategic impetus to strengthening the company’s foothold in India. Our vision is to strengthen our presence across the country, where we aim to have more than 10 Garmin Brand Stores by the end of 2023”.

The appointment of Pillai will be based in Delhi, India. In his new role, he will be driving stakeholder engagement, growth, and development of the brand in India. With over 16 years of experience, Pillai has worked for prestigious consumer electronics, consumer durables, FMCG and premium lifestyle brands.

Garmin aims to get closer to its diverse user community through new partners across markets to offer all the latest Garmin products including the newly launched Venu Sq 2, Forerunner 955 & 255 series.