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In conversation with VMLY&R’s Hari Ramanathan

Chief Marketing Officer of TATA Motors (passenger vehicles), Vinay Pant has moved out of the organization after two years. Industry sources have confirmed the development to Storyboard18. Tata Motors did not respond to calls and messages. Tata Motors is undergoing multiple changes in the organization and at the agency level. 

Pant was associated with Maruti Suzuki for 15 years starting 2007, heading consumer analytics. At Maruti Suzuki, he also served as Head of Marketing and later as Senior VP for True Value.

He worked with Hero MotoCorp as a strategic planner in 1996 and was also a part of Reckitt Benckiser for three years. Pant is an alumni of BITS Pilani. 

He was also associated with TNS, IMRB International and GFK.  

Tata Motors PVs CMO Vinay Pant quits amidst multiple rejigs at the auto major

While CEO salaries often make headlines, CMO earnings are rarely publicized. Recently, it was revealed that Ola Elelctric's Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Anshul Khandelwal's annual remuneration stood at Rs 79.5 lakh in the last fiscal year.

Storyboard18 has put the spotlight on marketing leadership salaries as the complexity of marketing and media grows and the function's importance becomes increasingly apparent to progressive C-suite and CEOs with marketing and sales background, across industries. Still according to most industry experts evaluations marketing leaders in the C-suite are typically paid less than their CXO peers. 

"CMOs are not paid as handsomely as the tech guys. There's a very simple, very easy reason for that. It's very difficult to show the ROI of marketing unless it's a B2B company like ours, where you are generating revenue through leads as well. But in most cases, there would be a growth hacking guy who would be directly reporting to the CEO," says Vineet Chugh, Head of Marketing QueueBuster POS.

Chugh emphasizes that demonstrating immediate ROI can be challenging, adding that marketing builds brands over a long period of time. It's very difficult to show the immediate ROI of marketing through, say, ad and social media campaigns.

"That's why it is very important for marketing guys to eventually get into the business role because the moment you start getting into the into the business or partnership role, you are being paid. If you are getting ten times that for the company, your salary will automatically increase," he says. 

Read More:<a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/brand-makers/cmos-command-premium-pay-in-tepid-job-market-find-out-how-much-cmos-earn-34497.htm" rel="noopener" target="_blank">CMOs command premium pay in tepid job market. Find out how much CMOs earn</a>

When Storyboard18 reached out to Rahul Talwar, Chief Marketing Officer, Max Life Insurance, for a comment on whether CMOs are paid as handsomely as other CXOs, he quips and says, "Let's make salaries unisex first! Why A marketing budget should never be a constraint for a marketer. Good talent always finds good money. As long as the CMOs and marketing leaders are able to contribute to growth, they will attract investment from business leaders and CEOs." 

Talwar also added that competitive compensation packages are crucial for recruiting top marketing talent."

Sectoral Divide in CMO Salaries

According to Naukri.com, the average CTC of CMOs has grown 13 percent year-on-year, at Rs 60.57 lakh in 2024 from Rs 52.89 lakh in 2023. 

In traditional Indian firms, the median fixed pay for marketing heads and CMOs has reduced by 5 percent, as per the Deloitte India Executive Performance & Rewards Survey, 2023 and 2024 reports. In 2023, the fixed pay of a CMO was around Rs 1.26 crore, which has been reduced to Rs 1.20 crore now in 2024. The data analyzed by Deloitte was sourced from more than 400 companies across the manufacturing, IT/ITes, financial services, life science, and consumer goods sectors.

Notably, the average minimum CTC of a CMO in the retail sector is Rs 2,824,022, while the average maximum CTC is Rs 14,688,295. In the IT sector, the average maximum CTC of the CMO is Rs 1.24 crore; in the banking sector, it is Rs 1.54 crore; and in telecom, it is Rs 1.38 crore, as per the data by talent platform Foundit.

However, the median total compensation, including long-term incentives, has increased by 8 percent this year in 2024 as companies focus on retaining key executives, according to the report. The total cost to company (CTC) of CMOs, along with long-term incentives (LTI), stood at Rs 1.96 crore this year in 2024, compared to Rs 1.81 crore in 2023. Without LTI, the CMO's median CTC stood at Rs 1.58 crore this year, against Rs 1.52 crore in 2023.

 Breaking the Hierarchy?

Some marketers think that the trend of lower compensation for marketing heads is changing, even though there is a long way to go. "I honestly think that the tide is turning. Earlier, there used to be a traditional sort of hierarchy where there was a functional head and then there was a CEO. Today, brands, companies, CEOs, and COOs recognize that marketing, products, and technology are the three things that are the backbones of any business today, and they are all very closely interlinked," says Surabhi Sharma, Senior Director of Marketing, Hero Vired.

"The acknowledgement of these pillars being important on their own to help drive the overall agenda of the business is definitely being recognized, and the compensation is commensurate with the change that is being seen. I wouldn't say we have reached there, but I definitely noticed that there is more recognition of that change, and salaries and compensations are commensurate with this trajectory that we have seen," says Sharma. 

Read More: <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/brand-marketing/how-much-does-ipo-bound-ola-electrics-cmo-earns-38197.htm" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Here's how much IPO-bound Ola Electric’s CMO earns</a>

The CMO pay debate: Are marketers underpaid?

Fractional ownership platform hBits on Wednesday announced the appointment of Saumil Parekh as its new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Previously, Saumil led the marketing, growth, and revenue vertical at Pharmeasy.

hBits said that Saumil will focus on cementing the company’s position in the Proptech space. He will oversee marketing activities across all functions, including brand, growth, retention, and creative functions, Parekh said.

With over 12 years of experience across FMCG, IT, and e-commerce sectors, Saumil has held key roles in Infosys, Colgate, and other firms.

"We are confident that Saumil's innovative approach and strategic vision will elevate hBits to new heights and solidify our leadership in the Proptech industry," hBits founder & CEO, Shiv Parekh said.

Parek on joining hBits said he would establish the company as the "leading and trusted" brand in the Proptech space.

“Joining hBits presents a remarkable opportunity to contribute to the company’s mission of transforming the commercial real estate investment landscape," he added.

hBits is a fractional ownership platform that enables investors to invest in high-yield, Grade-A commercial spaces at a ticket size of Rs 25 lakh. The platform aims to offer an average rental yield of up to 10% with an expected IRR of up to 18% with its Grade A commercial assets.

Ex-Pharmeasy marketing VP Saumil Parekh joins hBits as CMO

SoftBank-backed e-learning platform Unacademy’s partner and chief marketing officer Karan Shroff has quit. In September 2021, he was promoted as partner at the company.

In a post on LinkedIn, Shroff says “I will be hanging my boots at Unacademy. Over 3 years of memories, tons of awards , A great team that taught me a lot and a journey that I will always cherish. I would like to thank everyone that helped in this chapter of life and I’m extremely grateful to everyone in the industry for their support in helping make Unacademy the brand it is today.”

An official statement on his successor is still awaited from the company.

Shroff is the first partner named by Unacademy in recognition of his contribution in helping build Unacademy into a known brand. Under his leadership, Bengaluru-based edutech firm was roped in the as official partner for the Indian Premier League for three seasons, the BCCI announced on August 29, 2020. 

He held the position of chief marketing officer since September 2020. In this role, he was responsible for all marketing efforts including performance marketing, digital marketing, creative marketing, brand management, ATL campaigns, brand partnerships, media buying, consumer insights, and overall brand positioning. Shroff joined Unacademy in 2019 as vice president, marketing.

Prior to Unacademy, he led brand marketing at Xiaomi India. He has won multiple accolades and has regularly been featured as a Top Marketer, including being named CMO of the Year by World Asia Retail Congress in 2021.

Unacademy has been making strategic budget cuts in various areas including its workforce. In April, Moneycontrol reported that the company has laid off 10 percent of its workforce. 

Also read: <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/startup/unacademy-lays-off-about-10-of-its-workforce-8330051.html">Unacademy lays off about 10% of its workforce</a>

In August, Unacademy suspended contracts of doubt-solving educators for 6 months in another cost-cutting move. 

Also read: <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/startup/exclusive-unacademy-suspends-contracts-of-doubt-solving-educators-for-6-months-in-another-cost-cutting-move-8929331.html">Unacademy suspends contracts of doubt-solving educators for 6 months in another cost-cutting move</a>

SoftBank-backed firm’s job guarantee program vertical, Relevel, on which the edtech unicorn has been extremely bullish lately, has halved its team to 700 employees over the last two to three months amid a global slowdown in the job market.

Also read: <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/startup/exclusive-unacademy-halves-relevel-team-to-700-as-placements-drop-amid-job-market-slowdown-9046351.html">Unacademy halves Relevel team to 700 as placements drop amid job market slowdown</a>

Unacademy’s CMO, partner Karan Shroff quits

GE's Linda Boff on what it takes to reinvent a 130-yr old brand

Often pitted against each other, coming together of marketing and finance resources are redefining the growth of companies today. A successful and strong CMO and CFO alliance hinges on the CFO understanding consumer demand and marketing initiatives objectives and a CMO who works through data.

In partnership with Kantar, Google recently spoke to dozens of Fortune 1000 company leaders and marketers across industries about this topic. During those conversations, one alliance emerged as the most critical: the CMO and CFO power pair.

A majority of top executives said that their most senior-level marketing leaders not only have strong relationships with their CEOs but also with their CFOs. We also heard that leaders of digitally advanced companies reported much higher levels of synergy between their finance and marketing teams than did the leaders of digitally emerging companies.

Experts in the industry that Storyboard18 spoke to highlighted that over the years, the pressure on budgets and business outcomes have put pressure on the CMO to also be a co-owner of delivered ‘numbers’. This, in turn, has brought the CMO in closer proximity to the CFO, who is primarily responsible for keeping the number delivery on track.

Symbiotic relationship

In new age companies, the relationship between finance and marketing is evolving into a more symbiotic one where they come together to work towards the growth of the business.

“Today the calculation of return on marketing spends is much easier and more efficient than what it used to be a couple of years back," says Smita Murarka, who is the chief marketing officer of Duroflex. "This has built new bridges between the two functions," she adds, saying that at Duroflex, the two teams work collaboratively towards planning a campaign and even on analysing the results of the campaign.

Murarka shares that regular conversations with the company's finance team helps her team have data driven insights about the impact of marketing efforts on the business.

“The insights also help us plan the areas where we can focus our efforts more efficiently,” she adds.

The Google-Kantar study quoted above states that CMOs who can translate their marketing metrics into business impact—such as tying incremental investment to a certain sales growth percentage year over year—are 37 percent more likely to report revenue growth compared to leaders who communicate strictly in marketing language.

Shared insights

For online hotel booking platform OYO having a CFO that works closely with the brand and marketing team not only helps the company with strategic insights but also ensures that the marketing budgets are being leveraged wisely.

Mayur Hola, head of global brand, OYO says that their finance team is like members of the extended marketing team, in fact "our star players". The company’s strategic finance team works closely with the marketing team from the very initial stages of the company's campaign.

“They understand the scale of marketing allocation that works best for the business. And together we work to make our campaigns super-efficient and not wasteful. And finally, our group CFO Abhishek Gupta is the biggest champion of the brand. These are folks who are hard-nosed when it comes to finances and totally understand what investment in the brand will reap. As such they sow. In a nutshell that is the ideal relationship and we're fortunate to enjoy the same,” he notes.

Key challenges

One of the biggest challenges, which could possibly be dubbed as a major bone of contention, for CMO-CFO function is how RoI is calculated.

Duroflex’s Murarka believes that analysing everything in terms of RoI is something that comes naturally to finance. However, sometimes, it is important to understand that ROI is not always tangible, it is not always something that can be put into numbers.

“The outcome of marketing efforts is the growth of the business, but it is also customer loyalty, it is also brand salience. Building them takes a significant part of marketing efforts as well as spends, and they are as important as sales for a business,” she explains.

Marketing, being one of the larger expense lines, has always been seen as a cost, expendable, whenever there is any profit pressure or need to cut costs.

Ajay Kakar, chief marketing officer, Aditya Birla Capital Limited notes that for a company that believes in keeping the customer at the forefront, today, there is need and pressure for the CMO and CFO to be aligned about the ‘cost-benefit’ of the marketing budget.

“To borrow from an accounting vocabulary, I believe that marketing budgets and agendas should be categorized as balance sheet and/or P&amp;L items - those that will take time, but deliver on agreed-do outcomes, and those that will have immediate or attributable outcome within the same calendar year. The CMO-CFO jodi therefore has to work together, from vision, to strategy, till execution and outcome. And presenting a joint face to the management and board is the need of the hour,” he adds.

Upskilling and keeping up with times

Pradeep Mishra, CFO – Duroflex admits that while finance would want to measure everything through the ROI lens, it is often very difficult to quantify the long term impact of brand building activity of the marketing function.

“Understanding the two activities and balancing them with the financial objectives is a very important activity. And, when there is a conflict between the two teams, both teams should learn and understand how to balance long term value creation vs the financial targets every year,” he notes.

Mishra also emphasises the need for finance teams in companies to upskill themselves and better understand the evolving digital space, customer tracking etc.

“The skills needed now are totally different from what finance were trained into and this will be fast evolving at the pace of changes in the likes of the customer and changes of his requirement, so it is going to be a progressive journey to constantly reskilling oneself,” he concludes.

As brand building and marketing becomes more specialised and highly trackable in a digital-first world, data driven insights can bring marketing and finance resources together to achieve key business goals. Their unified efforts can turn the fortunes of the company that is looking to achieve sustainable growth. A Jodi No.1.

Frenemies turned partners: How CMO-CFO union is helping firms achieve growth

Digital debt financing platform CredAvenue’s brand revamp as Yubi ties well with its goal of going beyond being a credit-only platform into its international expansion to markets such as West Asia and North Africa.

Founded in 2020, Yubi facilitates debt financing for companies by connecting lenders and investors with borrowers through an online marketplace. Its offerings include term lending and working capital solutions, co-lending partnerships for banks and NBFCs, bond issuance and investment for institutional and retail participants, trade financing solutions and end-to-end securitisation and portfolio buyouts.

The Chennai-based fintech startup entered the unicorn club in just 18 months after raising around $137 million in its Series B funding. Flush with funds, the company is looking to create awareness about availability of hassle-free credit and new verticals (investment/real estate) that it intends to launch.

In an exclusive conversation with Storyboard18, Karanpreet Bindra, Yubi’s chief marketing officer, breaks down the objective behind the brand revamp. According to him, the company is looking at a large global category that can’t be contained in CredAvenue, which was a functional name.

“Our intent or ambition is to be the invisible layer covering the entire credit and debt ecosystem in the world. CredAvenue is not going to do justice to our ambition because our goal is much wider than just providing credit,” he says.

Bindra says that Yubi aims to facilitate all sorts of credit transactions right from connecting a borrower and lender, which happens to be the marketplace side of things (and what CredAvenue sounds like), ensuring smooth digitised execution on the platform itself, monitoring the journey end-to-end, and enabling connections for that loan.

Why Yubi?

So, what does Yubi mean and how did the company arrive at the new name?

Yubi means being ubiquitous, Bindra tells us. It’s like water, air or even the internet, which is out there all around you and powering life. "We wish to be that ubiquitous layer that’s the origin of Yubi, which is short for ubiquity. I think the other one is that we have a strong fundamental belief in the power of humans in doing great things and that’s where the tagline comes from."

"We believe in the fundamental right of access to capital and the potential of humans. We stand for leveraging human potential – You be – so you be at your best, which is the other inspiration for the brand name,” he explains.

Many TGs and eleven marketing plans

Yubi works with various target audiences (TGs). In the marketplace model, the company has lenders (banks/NBFCs) and borrowers (enterprises, which can have as little as Rs 10 crore annual revenue / taking a loan against property, to a unicorn or Rs 10,000 crore listed organisation looking to raise debt).

“We cater to almost six TG sets within the borrower ecosystem and three segments around the lender ecosystem. We work with two broad categories: B2B and B2B2C. For instance it can be a firm like CRED or payment app Slice, which are our customers; although they are dealing with the end customers we are powering their transactions," Bindra says.

The company will soon build and launch a B2C vertical focussed on investment products.

"We are like a single mother brand catering to almost eight different sub-brands,” Bindra notes.

For each of these sub-brands, the company has an individual marketing budget and campaign as well as a marketing strategy.

“As a group CMO, I’m working on 11 marketing plans, including the mother brand," says Bindra. He draws a comparison to an iconic global brand: "With Yubi, we have done the umbrella or mother branding similar to what FedEx does."

But all of Yubi's sub-brands will also have individual marketing plans aimed at their respective TG. For instance, one of its product brands is 'Yubi Invest', so that’s a product about wealth and it targets wealth managers. The whole marketing campaign and strategy for this sub-product will be built independent of the mother brand.

Translating vision to a new identity

Yubi’s marketing goal in the next two years is to establish itself as a leader powering the entire debt ecosystem in India, West Asia and the North Africa region. On product lines, it is targeting a leadership position in six of the eight sub-brands.

Talking about the brand identity change, Alexa Hargreave, client partner, Venture3, says that the agency has developed a set of brand principles that underpin the way Yubi speaks, acts, looks and behaves to drive the experiences it creates.

These principles include ‘Freedom to collaborate’ (which focuses on breaking down barriers and discovering opportunities), ‘Power of transparency’ (inspired by integrity and honesty in the open exchange of ideas and capital) and ‘Equitable and fair’ (a belief in the public good and opportunity that capital creates).

The agency says that it has repositioned Yubi from a debt marketplace to a ‘possibility platform’.

Design and brand expert Shekhar Badve, founder-director, Lokusdesign, says that the identity looks young and has an interesting play of 2D and 3D effects. “It looks like a marketplace for young investors. (But) I feel the identity should have been a bit serious and build confidence just by looking at it,” he notes.

Bindra, however, is confident that the new brand identity effectively captures Yubi's reason to be and future direction.

Yubi CMO Karanpreet Bindra: Our umbrella branding is similar to what FedEx does

Muralikrishnan B

Previous: Chief Operating Officer, Xiaomi India

Present: President, Xiaomi India

Mobile tech giant Xiaomi India promoted Muralikrishnan B to the post of president. His new role will see him responsible for day-to-day operations, services, public affairs, strategic projects. In his previous role, he was responsible for sales, service, and operations, offline sales channels, after sales, logistics, IT product and platforms, customer support quality etc.

He has 20+ years of experience across FMCG and the consumer internet domain, and has been the country manager of eBay India. Muralikrishnan has worked for brands like Asian Paints, Tata Communications, Sify, Jabong (before its acquisition by Myntra).

This is the latest in a series of changes in Xiaomi's leadership structure, amidst increasing scrutiny of Chinese smartphone makers by Indian government agencies.

Dilpreeta Vasudeva

Previous: Head of Marketing Transformation, Financial Services, Bharti Enterprises

Present: Head of Marketing - Business Messaging at Meta (WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger)

Meta appointed Dilpreeta Vasudeva as the head of marketing - business messaging for its platforms WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger. Vasudeva is also the founder of CMO Access, a new-age solution for accelerating growth and embracing transformation. She has also worked at Tata Play and Reliance Industries as the head of digital marketing, and as the head of marketing - Jio Studios. She has also been a part of organisations like Tech Mahindra, Times Internet, and Microsoft Corporation.

Anjana Ghosh

Previous: Director - Marketing and Business Development, Bisleri International

Present: Taking up a strategic role in a new firm

Anjana Ghosh, who had served as the director of marketing and business development at Bisleri International for 16 years and two months, decided to move on. She plans to take up a strategic role where she hopes to build an organization and brands.

During her 16 year tenure, Ghosh was the brain behind innovations on the brand, and the engineering of Bisleri from blue to green. Before joining Bisleri in 2006 as the deputy general manager of sales and marketing, Ghosh had spent 15 years to the steel industry.

Rahul Vengalil

Previous: Managing Partner, Dentsu Isobar

Present: Executive Director, Everest Brand Solutions

Rahul Vengalil has joined Rediffusion Group’s Everest Brand Solutions as the executive director. Based out of Everest’s new headquarters in Bengaluru, he will lead the agency that aims to position itself as a digital-first full service agency.

Vengalil has 16 years of experience with 13 of those years spent in the media industry. He has also worked with brands across categories like automobile, retail, lifestyle, FMCG, e-commerce, travel, hospitality, consumer electronics, IT & ITES, media and entertainment, and real estate.

George Sebastian

Previous: Senior Creative Director, DDB Mudra Group

Present: Executive Creative Director, BBH India

Publicis Groupe’s BBH India appointed George Sebastian as executive creative director. In his new role, he will lead the copy, art and design department at the agency. He will report to Russell Barrett, who is the chief executive officer and chief creative officer of BBH India. Sebastian, who has 14 years of experience has been a part of agencies like Enormous Brands and Grey Group.

Ashish Mishra

Previous: Managing Director, Interbrand

Present: CEO, India and South Asia, Interbrand

Ashish Mishra, who had served as the managing director at Interbrand, a full-service consultancy, has been promoted as the chief executive officer for the India and South Asia region.

Tarvinderjit Singh

Previous: Executive Creative Director, Contract Advertising

Present: Creative Head, Famous Innovations

Famous Innovations appointed Tarvinderjit Singh as the creative head. Singh has more than two decades of experience in the advertising business and has worked in agencies like Leo Burnett, Ogilvy & Mather, Grey Group, Cheil Worldwide, McCann Erickson, TBWA, Rediffusion Y&R, Bates Chi & Partners. He is best known for writing the most viewed commercial in 2017 - ‘Samsung - Service Van’.

Warner Bros Discovery - Ruchir Jain, Tanaz Mehta, Uttam Pal Singh, Sai Abhishek

Warner Bros Discovery announced a new leadership team with the appointment of Ruchir Jain, Tanaz Mehta, Uttam Pal Singh, and Sai Abhishek. Jain will lead as the head of distribution and Eurosport, Mehta is head of ad sales, Singh will lead the kids cluster as its head, and Abhishek will lead the 
factual and lifestyle cluster as its head.

In his previous role, Jain led finance, strategy and commercial operations for Discovery Networks in South Asia, and overall APAC for direct-to-consumer business. Mehta has 22 years of experience in advertising or media sales, and Singh in his previous stint at Discovery Kids led the team. Abhishek has led original productions, programming, and acquisitions in the past.

Vikram Garga

Previous: Vice President and Head of Strategy, Insights and Analytics, and Innovation, Mahindra & Mahindra

Present: Group Head, Marketing, APMEA, Apollo Tyres

Apollo Tyres roped in Vikram Garga as the group head, marketing for the Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (APMEA) region. In his new role, Garga will spearhead the regional marketing team. His focus will be on the marketing and product strategy for all product categories, dealer programmes, brand positioning and monitoring performance in conjunction with sales.

Garga will be based out of Gurugram and will report to Satish Sharma, president of the APMEA region. The group marketing head is armed with 25 years of experience in providing strategic and operational leadership in FMCG and automotive industry across consumer facing business organisations. They include Mahindra and Mahindra Limited, Castrol India, Colgate Palmolive, Britannia, Johnson & Johnson, and Dabur India.

Arghya Chakravarty

Previous: Executive Vice President - Ad Sales, Entertainment Business, Disney Star India

Present: Chief Operating Officer, Shemaroo Entertainment

Shemaroo Entertainment appointed Arghya Chakravarty as their chief operating officer. In his new role, he will spearhead the overall business operations and steer Shemaroo’s numerous business verticals. In the three-decade long career, Chakravarty has been a part of organisations like Times Internet, Innovative Media, PepsiCo, PepsiCo India, Tata Steel and Asian Paints.

Shobhit Gaur

Previous: Senior Vice President - Digital Head, PHD India

Present: Business Head and Head of Buying, Madison World

Madison Digital appointed Shobhit Gaur as vice president, where he will report to Vishal Chinchankar, chief executive officer at Madison Digital and Madison Media Alpha. Gaur was associated with Madison World from 2017 to 2021 as the vice president. Further, he also led Omnicom Group as the group head. Gaur has 14 years of experience in the digital space and in areas like mobile marketing, digital marketing, social media marketing, online marketing, brand planning, and digital analytics etc.

Sunil Kamath

Previous: Regional Vice President - APAC, Play Magnus AS

Present: Chief Business Officer, Koo

Indian microblogging and social networking site Koo has appointed Sunil Kamath as the chief business officer. His new position will see Kamath lead growth strategies, marketing, business partnerships, monetisation and expansion.

Previously, as a regional vice president for the APAC region at Play Magnus AS, his mandate was building partnerships with various ecosystem players to increase the reach of Play Magnus products. Kamath, who has two decades of experience in the satcom (satellite communications) and mobile internet industry has been a part of organisations like Reliance infocom, and ShareChat.

Apoorva Singh Bais

Previous: Senior Marketing Manager, Category Head, Foods Division, Dabur

Present: Chief Marketing Officer, Mrs Bector Food Specialities (Cremica and English Oven)

Mrs. Bector Food Specialities, cookie and cracker manufacturing company, roped in Apoorva Singh Bais as the chief marketing officer. Singh, who has 17 years of corporate experience, spent 12 years in FMCG marketing, sales, trade marketing with Dabur and ITC.

Abhishek Kumar

Previous: COO and General Partner, Jupiter Capital

Present: Group CEO, Balaji Telefilms

Balaji Telefilms appointed Abhishek Kumar as the group chief executive officer. In his new role, he will be responsible for overall growth and success of the group. Kumar has more than two decades of experience across consumer industries that includes media, technology and e-commerce.

His areas of expertise include new business initiatives, venture capital investments, strategic partnerships, sourcing acquisition opportunities, deal closure, transaction structuring, commercial due diligence, divestment and leading mergers and acquisitions (M&A). He has worked in media houses like NDTV, IBN 7, Network 1 Media, Sahara Samay, and Asianet News Media and Entertainment. He also worked at the head of corporate development at Snapdeal.

Achint Setia

Previous: CXO and Head, Marketing & Social Commerce Business, Myntra

Present: Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer, Zalora

Achint Setia recently joined Zalora Group, an e-commerce platform on fashion, lifestyle, and beauty with a strong presence in Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Setia will be based out of Singapore. In his new role, he leads the revenue, P&L for the regional cluster. Plus, he is also responsible for driving the marketing function of the group. Earlier this year, Zalora had partnered with the Flipkart Group-owned Myntra to bring its private labels to India.

Armed with 18 years of experience, he has been a part of organizations like Microsoft, McKinsey & Company, and Viacom18. At Myntra, he helped in 
scaling the brand, helped in the growth of customers and platform, and developed the marketing strategy.

Atul Singh

Previous: Group President, Asia Pacific, The Coca Cola Company

Present: Executive Vice Chairman, Raymond

Indian branded fabric and fashion retailer Raymond has appointed Atul Singh as the executive vice chairman to the board of Raymond. Raymond is going to mark its centenary year in 2025.

As the group president, Asia Pacific, he led Coca-Cola's growth engine and the fastest growing group in volume during the past few years. He directed five business units, supervised operations in 36 countries. He has also been a part of Colgate-Palmolive for a decade.

Ayesha Ghosh

Previous: CEO, Taproot Dentsu

Present: Managing Director, Wieden + Kennedy India

Independent global advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy has appointed Ayesha Ghosh as the managing director for the India region. Ghosh, who will be based out of Mumbai will partner with Santosh Padhi, the CCO of the agency. Padhi had founded Taproot with Agnello Dias, and the agency was later acquired by Dentsu. He left last year to join W+K. Ghosh was previously with Taproot Dentsu where she served as the chief executive officer. Her stint there lasted six years.

She joined the agency in 2016 as the general manager and helped in driving considerable business growth and profitability. She helped in building the agency’s design offering, shaped the strategic approach to creative work, and structured the talent base or agency culture. Before joining Taproot, Ghosh has been a part of agencies like Contract Advertising, Grey Worldwide, Trikaya Grey, and PSL McCann Erickson.

Deveshi Chugh

Previous: Regional Business Head, APAC, Publicis Media

Present: Managing Partner, Asia Pacific, Wavemaker

Deveshi Chugh was appointed by Wavemaker as the managing partner for the Asia-Pacific region. Chugh, who is based out of Singapore, has more than a decade experience, and has worked in GroupM’s Mediacom as a senior manager for APAC - Haircare, Team P&G.

Raja Naeem

Previous: Deputy General Manager and Marketing Communications Lead, Nissan Motor India

Present: General Manager- Brand Marketing Head, Citroen India, Stellantis

Global automaker Stellantis appointed Raja Naeem as the general manager - brand marketing head, Citroen India. He has 17 years of experience across categories including automobiles (core domain), FMCG and telecom.

He has worked in advertising agencies like Ogilvy & Mather, McCann Erickson, and Bates 141. At General Motors and Datsun India, he led the organizations as the brand manager and marcom lead. His core competencies include customer experience, brand strategy, digital marketing, online reputation management (ORM), budget management and forecasting; working knowledge of market research and training.

Mehul Kapadia

Previous: Global Head of Marketing, Large Enterprise & Public Sector, Vodafone Business

Present: Chief Growth Officer, Locus

Technology company Locus roped in Mehul Kapadia as its chief growth officer. In his new role, he will scale up the organisation with focus on marketing, strategy, and growth initiatives.

Pratik Pota

Previous: CEO, Jubilant Foodworks

Present: CEO & MD, Eureka Forbes

Consumer durables maker Eureka Forbes appointed Pratik Pota to the post of a chief executive officer and managing director. He will start on August 16. With the transformation specialist Pota at the helm, Eureka Forbes, best known for its vacuum cleaners and water purifiers, will be stepping on the growth pedal.

Aabhinna Suresh Khare

Previous: Chief Marketing & Digital Officer (Continues), Bajaj Capital

Present: + Head of Strategy (Elevation), Bajaj Capital


Aabhinna Suresh Khare has been given an additional mandate as the head of strategy at Bajaj Capital. Khare will drive the end to end marketing and digital transformation for the group.

Manish Darji

Previous: Executive Creative Director, DDB Mudra Group

Present: Head of Art - West, DDB Mudra Group

DDB Mudra appointed Manish Darji as the head of art where he will lead the design mandate for the agency’s west office. He will report to Pallavi Chakravarti, creative head - west. In his new role, Darji will explore applications of craft in digital, data, entertainment, and content. His appointment reinforces the Group’s commitment to craft at a time when visual storytelling is at its evolving stage.

Darji, who has two decades of experience, has worked in agencies like McCann Worldgroup, Ogilvy & Mather, Bates141, Rediffusion Y & R and DDB Mudra Group on leading brands like Coca-Cola, NDTV, Big Bazaar, Volkswagen, Marico, Viacom 18, and Mondelez.

Amit Saxena

Previous: VP Revenue (National Head) - Zapr Small Segments, Zapr Media Labs

Present: Head of Digital and Data Lead, Red Fuse Communications

Red Fuse Communications, an integrated global WPP client team dedicated to serving Colgate-Palmolive worldwide, has appointed Amit Saxena as the head of digital and data lead. With 18 years of experience in the areas of business planning, go-to-market (GTM) strategy building, sales, revenue management and people management, he has worked at media houses like Dainik Jagran, NDTV, and News18 India.

KFC - Samir Menon and Moksh Chopra

Samir Menon and Moksh Chopra have been promoted to the position of the managing director and general manager where the former will look after the regions of Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan, Turkey and India. Chopra will focus on Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Maldives.

Menon and Chopra have been associated with KFC India for over a decade now. Chopra in his previous position led brand strategy and communication, e-commerce, product innovation and public relations (PR). Menon’s specialties include corporate strategy, business planning, corporate finance, cost reduction, team management, project management, problem-solving, and consulting.

Pawan Sarda

Previous: Group CMO - Digital, Marketing & E-commerce Business, Future Group

Pawan Sarda, who headed Future Group as the group chief marketing officer and looked after the digital, marketing, and e-commerce business, quit the company. He had strategized and managed group wide digital and marketing initiatives including digital commerce for all retail formats.

Prior to joining Future Group, he worked at Tata Housing and Development Company as the head- marketing and product development (domestic and international market) - Tata Value Homes. Armed with more than two decades of experience, he worked at Pantaloon Retail India for six years and nine months and first joined Future Group as the chief marketing officer for Home Solutions Retail India (HSRIL), and was promoted to head of marketing for Big Bazaar.

In 2010, he became the CMO for the group where he provided strategic direction to retail brands and built long term business goals.

Jigar Rambhia

Previous: National Director and Head of Sports Business, Wavemaker

Present: COO, Sporjo

Sporjo, a company that trains candidates for a career in the Indian sports industry, appointed Jigar Rambhia as the chief operating officer. Rambhias spent over 14 years at Wavemaker. Rambhia had joined the WPP Group-owned agency as a business director and in his past role. He closed the biggest sporting deal when he signed Janalakshmi Financial Services as the financial services partner for the BCCI.

Compiled by Kashmeera Sambamurthy

CXO Moves: M&E firms beef up leadership, CMOs move on, and an ad executive exits the industry