Reliance Games' Manish Agarwal joins Nazara Technologies as CEO

Manish Agarwal, erstwhile chief of Reliance Games, has joined mobile entertainment company Nazara Technologies as CEO. As part of the development, Nazara founder and CEO Nitish Mittersain will assume the position of managing director, the company said in a statement.

"As an industry as well as a company, we are at an inflection point today. To remain competitive in this market, we need to scale up our operations and increase the management bandwidth, and this is where Manish will play a role," said Mittersain.

"While on the demand-side, the adoption of smartphones and enhanced connectivity is helping the segment grow at an unprecedented pace, on the supply-side there is tremendous interest in the Indian market from global players, new entrants, content developers and investors," he said.

A dominant player in the mobile gaming space in India, Nazara was founded in 2000 during the technology bust. But the firm gained traction when it changed course in 2003 to make games for mobile phones. It then raised around $3 million from WestBridge Capital between 2006 and 2007. Nazara is focused on expanding its business in India and Africa.

As reported by Techcircle.in, Nazara is in talks to raise $50 million within a few months through the private equity route.

Agarwal has over 16 years of experience in digital, consumer marketing and mobile gaming. Reliance Games went through a transformation under his leadership where he was instrumental in the development of noted games such as Real Steel Franchise, Pacific Rim and Hunger Games: Panem Run.

An alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad and NIT Warangal, Agarwal previously held senior leadership positions at Unilever, Microsoft, Rediff, Infosys and UTV.

Reliance Entertainment has elevated Amit Khanduja as CEO of Reliance Games, effective June 1, 2015.