Apple appoints former Hotstar exec Dasgupta as India country manager

California-based technology giant Apple has appointed Ipsita Dasgupta as the India country manager for its streaming services, including Apple TV+ and Apple Music, as well as the App Store.

She succeeds Khushboo Ponwar, who held the post till June 2019, according to multiple media reports. Ponwar currently heads the company’s business development team in India, Middle East, Turkey and Africa, as per her LinkedIn profile.

Before moving to Apple this month, Dasgupta was the president of strategy and new ventures at Hotstar. She was also the chief commercial officer at General Electric. She holds an MBA from Harvard University. 

While Apple did not respond to an email from TechCircle seeking confirmation, Dasgupta and Ponwar’s LinkedIn profiles verified their new roles.

The development comes at a time when Apple is looking to expand into India’s streaming market. In November last year, the company launched streaming television service Apple TV+ for a subscription fee of Rs 99 per month, and is reportedly in talks to acquire licenses to host Indian content on the platform. 

Apple and search giant Google recently collaborated to release ‘exposure notifications’ technology for contact tracing apps created by public health officials.