Finnish telecommunications giant Nokia has announced a significant overhaul of its Indian leadership, appointing Samar Mittal as the new India Country Business Leader and Vibha Mehra as India Country Manager, effective April 1, 2026. This move is part of a broader global restructuring strategy aimed at pivoting the company toward an “AI-native” era. However, the leadership change comes at a turbulent time; industry reports suggest that Nokia is preparing for another round of significant layoffs in India, potentially impacting up to 20% of its local workforce. The restructuring follows a reported 15% year-on-year decline in India net sales for the final quarter of 2025, which fell to €393 million (roughly ₹4,290 crore) as the initial 5G rollout surge in the country began to stabilize.
The transition marks a return to a “horizontal” operating model, reversing a 2023 experiment with vertical business units that reportedly failed to deliver the desired agility. Under this new structure, Samar Mittal—who previously led Nokia’s Cloud and Network Services in the Middle East and Africa—will oversee the entire customer portfolio end-to-end, providing a more unified point of contact for major telecom operators and cloud providers. Meanwhile, Vibha Mehra will focus on strategic site management, government relations, and the company’s internal people agenda. While Nokia’s official statement emphasizes “sharpening business focus” and “accelerating growth,” internal sources indicate that the merger of its Cloud and Mobile network functions has created redundancies that the company now seeks to eliminate. With a global target to reduce its headcount by up to 14,000 employees, the Indian unit is bracing for a leaner 2026 as it reorients its resources toward mission-critical enterprises and high-demand AI infrastructure.