Apple named Michel Coulomb, previously the company’s MD for South Asia, as the new head of its operations in India, effective immediately.

Coulomb, a 14-year Apple veteran, replaces Sanjay Kaul who resigned as the iPhone maker faces weak sales in the country and continued regulatory hurtles.

Apple reported its slowest growth in India in five years in its fiscal year ending 31 March and the outlook for the current financial year isn’t any brighter, The Economic Times reported.

Earlier this week the US-based vendor raised prices of most iPhone models sold in India by as much as 5 per cent after the government pushed through an import duty hike on smartphones from 10 per cent to 15 per cent.

Apple had been holding discussions with the Indian government about deferring a planned increase to import taxes on mobile phone components so it could expand local production of iPhones in the world’s second-largest smartphone market. The company started assembling the iPhone SE in May with output reportedly between 25,000 and 50,000 units a month.

Analysts said Apple will be hit hard by the duty hike since it imports about 88 per cent of iPhones sold in India.