With Netflix in India reportedly struggling to keep pace with competition like Amazon’s Prime Video and Disney+Hotstar in terms of susbcribers despite pouring in millions of dollars in original and third-party programming, the stress-lines are slowly taking a toll — or it seems so.

Netflix India Director of International Original Films Srishti Behl Arya, who played a key role in expanding the content library of the popular video streaming platform in the country and herself coming with a Bollywood background, has quit resigned.

Yesterday was her last day in the company, Press Trust of India reported from New Delhi, adding that Arya had joined Netflix in May 2018.

Though Arya’s next move is not known at the moment, there’s no denying the fact she had played a major role in bolstering the American streamer’s  library with more than 35 original films, including Guilty, AK vs AK, Bulbbul, Serious Men along with Tamil and Telugu films like Paava Kadhaigal and Pitta Kathalu.

She reported to Netflix India Vice President (Content) Monika Shergill.

“Srishti has played a foundational role in building our original film slate in India, launching 35 titles over three years with critical acclaim and fandom…We wish her every success and know she will bring her passion for storytelling to her future endeavours,” PTI quoted Shergill as saying.

But critics have been pointing out Netflix’s faults, being too US-centric from the start being one.

An recent anaylsis of Netflix India, done by online news website The Information, stated: “The situation in India — which many Western-based internet companies see as one of the biggest market opportunities left for them — has been a special indignity for Netflix. While 64 per cent of households with broadband in the country subscribe to Amazon Prime Video, a mere 11.3 per cent are on Netflix, estimates Ampere. That represents one of Netflix’s worst market positions in a significant overseas market.”

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, whose made several visits to India, according to The Information, had a blunt assessment of the company’s predicament in India in a recent analyst call: “We’re still figuring things out (in India).”

So, Arya’s departure from Netflix India wasn’t very surprising to some.

The PTI report did explain that films will remain a focus and priority investment for Netflix in India, and the India content team led by Shergill, who’d continue to expand the library further.

OTT players like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+Hotstar and Zee5 have seen massive growth in the Indian market in the past few years on the back of cheap data tariffs and the availability of affordable smartphones.

The consumption of content, right from the web series to movies to original content, from these platforms is also on the rise on smart TVs as the prices of these devices have come down significantly over the past few years, PTI said.