MAM
Anuj Sharma joins Xiaomi India as head of marketing
MUMBAI: Chinese mobile giant, Xiaomi, has appointed Anuj Sharma as the new head of marketing for India business.
Sharma’s appointment comes at an interesting time when the company is looking to accelerate market growth ahead of the festive season.
Welcoming Anuj Sharma on board, Xiaomi India head Manu Jain said in a Facebook post and a tweet: “Anuj will be heading end-to-end marketing at Xiaomi India, including all functions and product lines. At Xiaomi, we believe in ‘marketing without advertising’. We’ve always innovatively used social media, Mi Community and various Mi Fan forums to do our marketing, rather than spending crores in traditional advertising!”
Excited that Anuj Sharma @s_anuj has joined us to head Marketing at @XiaomiIndia.
We believe in ‘marketing without advertising’ – using social media, Mi Community & MiFan forums rather than spending Cr.s in advertising!
Anuj is the most suitable person to take this forwardpic.twitter.com/qQxLownejz
— Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) September 3, 2018
With an experience of over 15 years in the technology domain, Sharma worked at Lenovo and Motorola where he headed online sales, product management and product marketing.
Sharma has over 15 years of experience in the technology domain, having had a long stint at Lenovo & Motorola, where he played various roles, including heading online sales, product marketing & product management.
Known as the ‘Apple’ of China, Xiaomi mobiles entered the Indian market in 2014 with an exclusive sales tie-up with Flipkart for smartphone Mi 3. The company spent zero marketing dollars for the first three years.
Digital
India leads global adoption of ChatGPT Images 2.0 in first week
From anime avatars to fantasy covers, users turn AI visuals into culture
NEW DELHI: India has emerged as the largest user base for ChatGPT Images 2.0, just a week after its launch by OpenAI, underlining the country’s growing influence on global internet trends.
While the tool was introduced as an advanced image-generation upgrade within ChatGPT, Indian users are quickly reshaping its purpose. Instead of sticking to productivity-led use cases, many are embracing it as a creative playground for self-expression, storytelling and online identity.
From anime-style portraits and cinematic headshots to tarot-inspired visuals and fictional newspaper front pages, the model is being used to create highly stylised, shareable content. Features such as accurate text rendering, multilingual prompts and the ability to generate detailed visuals with minimal input have helped drive rapid adoption.
What sets the latest model apart is its ability to “think” through prompts, generating multiple outputs and adapting to context, including real-time web inputs. But the bigger story lies in how users are engaging with it.
In India, trends are already taking shape. Popular formats include dramatic studio-style lighting edits, LinkedIn-ready headshots, manga-inspired avatars, soft pastel “spring” aesthetics, AI-led fashion moodboards, paparazzi-style visuals and fantasy newspaper covers. Users are also restoring old photographs, creating tarot-style imagery and experimenting with futuristic design concepts.
Local flavour is adding another layer. Prompts such as cinematic portrait collages and Y2K-inspired romantic edits are gaining traction, blending global aesthetics with distinctly Indian internet culture.
The surge reflects a broader shift in how AI tools are being used in the country, moving beyond utility to creativity. As younger users, creators and social media enthusiasts experiment with new visual formats, AI-generated imagery is increasingly becoming part of everyday digital expression.
If early trends hold, ChatGPT Images 2.0 may not just be a tech upgrade but a cultural moment, giving millions a new visual language to play with online.
