Narendra Nayak to be MD, Blackberry India

BlackBerry has appointed Narendra Nayak as its new managing director in India. He joins BlackBerry from venture-funded software company Linguanext Technologies, where he was responsible for expanding the business in India and across South East Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Prior to Linguanext, Nayak had held executive roles at organisations including CSC, IBM, Motorola and Digital Equipment India.

Earlier in June, BlackBerry India managing director Sunil Lalvani resigned to pursue opportunities outside the company (See: BlackBerry's Sunil Lalvani joins Qualcomm India as vice president). The exit came at a time when the company was clawing back its lost position in the Indian handset market.

''I look forward to building our business here in India by ensuring we are helping enterprise and government organisations select and implement an end-to-end mobile security strategy – whatever the device or devices they are using,'' Nayak said.

Based in New Delhi, Nayak will be responsible for driving BlackBerry's software and services business through all channels – direct enterprise customers, network operators and distribution partners - and its indirect channels in India, which include Value-Added Reseller (VAR), Systems Integrator and Reseller partners.

Nayak has more than 30 years of experience in IT and telecom business management. 

''Nayak joins us at a pivotal time, as we continue to transform our business from one fuelled by the sale of smartphones, into the leading enterprise software provider focused on cross-platform mobile security and productivity. These are exciting times for BlackBerry in India, and I look forward to Narendra motivating our team and driving our business in the market forwards,'' said Carl Wiese, president, global sales at BlackBerry.