Who is Kiran Mani? OpenAI’s new APAC head and former JioHotstar CEO

OpenAI has appointed Kiran Mani, former digital chief executive of JioStar, as Managing Director for Asia-Pacific, marking a key leadership hire as the company sharpens its focus on India and the broader region.

Mani will join OpenAI in June and relocate to Singapore, where the ChatGPT maker runs its regional hub. Mani will report to Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon and oversee business strategy, partnerships and market expansion across Asia-Pacific, including India, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia and Australia.

The appointment comes at a time when OpenAI is scaling its international operations and deepening its presence in high-growth markets, particularly India, which it has identified as a priority geography.

From JioHotstar to OpenAI

Mani brings over two decades of experience across digital media, technology and consumer internet companies. Most recently, he served as CEO of JioStar’s digital business, where he oversaw platforms such as JioHotstar and Cricinfo, and led product, growth and revenue strategy.

He was also the founding CEO of JioHotstar and played a key role in the merger of Viacom18 and Star India, creating one of India’s largest media and entertainment platforms. Under his leadership, the company scaled its digital footprint in one of the world’s fastest-growing streaming markets.

Before JioStar, Mani spent more than 13 years at Google, where he rose to become general manager for Android and Google Play across Asia-Pacific and Japan. He has also held roles at Microsoft and IBM.

Strategic hire for Asia-Pacific growth

At OpenAI, Mani is expected to focus on expanding enterprise adoption of artificial intelligence tools, building regional partnerships and driving go-to-market strategy across diverse markets.

Demand for generative AI is accelerating, with enterprises, developers and governments increasingly deploying AI for coding, customer support, content creation and automation. Mani’s experience in scaling consumer platforms and working with telecom, media and technology partners is likely to be critical as OpenAI looks to localise its offerings and deepen ecosystem ties.

India at the centre of OpenAI’s plans

The leadership appointment also underscores OpenAI’s growing emphasis on India as a core growth market. The company recently launched its “OpenAI for India” initiative aimed at supporting startups, developers and enterprise adoption, while also investing in local infrastructure.

India is already among the largest user bases for ChatGPT globally, and OpenAI has indicated that the next phase of growth will hinge on building stronger local partnerships and improving accessibility.

As part of this push, the company is working with Indian partners, including the Tata Group, to develop data centre capacity that can support local deployment of its AI models. This is expected to help meet data residency requirements and reduce latency for businesses.

OpenAI has also been expanding its on-ground presence in India, having hired its first employee in the country in 2024 and steadily increasing hiring since then.