Manu Jain, the executive who helped Xiaomi set up and scale business in India, has left the company, he said Monday, joining a long list of high-profile departures at the local unit that is increasingly losing market share to rivals including Samsung.

Jain did not say why he was leaving the firm, but he has been pitching investors ideas for an EV startup for several months, people familiar with the matter said.

Under Jain’s leadership, Xiaomi became the top smartphone vendor in India, undercutting rivals Samsung, OnePlus, Oppo and Vivo with higher specs phone at more affordable price.

Once a key figure in the India team, Jain grappled with a big blow after the relationship between China and India soured amid geopolitical tension between the neighboring nations in 2020, people familiar with the matter said.

According to one source, Jain was supposed to be elevated to a higher global role but the firm changed its mind.

Xiaomi and Jain did not respond to a request for comment in December.

“I joined the Xiaomi Group in 2014 to start its India journey. The first few years were full of ups and downs. We started as a one-person startup, working from a small little office. We were the smallest amongst the hundreds of smartphone brands, that too with limited resources and no prior relevant industry experience,” Jain said in a statement.

(More to follow.)