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Profit, governance will trump hype despite IPO rush, says NSE chief

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MUMBAI: India’s capital markets will stay anchored to profitability, transparency and strong corporate governance, even as the country rides a wave of initial public offerings, Ashish Kumar Chauhan, ceo of the National Stock Exchange, said on Tuesday.

Speaking at IPO Baatcheet, a special programme hosted by the Startup Policy Forum, Chauhan said Indian public markets are fundamentally different from more risk-tolerant global peers, with both institutional and retail investors placing a premium on sustainable business models and investor protection. “Broadly speaking, India is about profitability, about transparency and about better corporate governance,” he said.

Trust, Chauhan argued, is the currency of public markets, and governance its backbone. With retail participation deepening rapidly, he warned that even small lapses can have outsized consequences. “It’s like a pond out of which we all drink. It’s easy to destroy that trust, but very difficult to build,” he said.

Addressing founders and promoters of listed companies, Chauhan urged restraint and responsibility in handling public capital. When faced with grey areas, he said, decisions should favour minority shareholders over insiders. “Even if something is legally allowed, don’t do it if morally it is not correct,” he said, pointing to the need to reduce information and power asymmetries.

He also pushed back against the idea of new-age IPOs as guaranteed wealth creators, cautioning that true value will only emerge over one-, two- and five-year horizons after listing. Public markets, he said, reward fundamentals and governance, not hype.

India’s growing retail base reflects rising confidence in markets, Chauhan noted. The NSE now has more than 12 crore unique investors, representing nearly 25 per cent of Indian households. But with participation comes responsibility. “Stock market is not a game,” he said, warning against greed-driven speculation and unrealistic expectations.

On derivatives, Chauhan delivered a blunt message to retail investors: stay away unless fully aware of the risks. “If you don’t know the risks associated, you should not come into the derivatives market,” he said, adding that such instruments are meant for trained participants with the capacity to absorb losses.

Chauhan also highlighted the exchange’s technological muscle, noting that NSE can process up to 60 lakh orders per second, operates at microsecond speeds moving towards nanoseconds, and has strengthened cyber resilience. He cited episodes where the exchange faced as many as 40 crore cyber attacks within 20 minutes.

The discussion was part of Startup Policy Forum’s effort to prepare new-age companies for life in public markets. Shweta Rajpal Kohli, ceo and president of SPF, said the forum is setting up a Centre for New-Age Public Companies to support founders before and after listing, offering institutional guidance and capacity building.

As IPOs multiply and retail money floods in, Chauhan’s message was unmistakable: in India’s markets, discipline beats dazzle — every time.

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Delhivery chairman Deepak Kapoor, independent director Saugata Gupta quit board

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Gurugram: Delhivery’s boardroom is being reset. Deepak Kapoor, chairman and independent director, has resigned with effect from April 1 as part of a planned board reconstitution, the logistics company said in an exchange filing. Saugata Gupta, managing director and chief executive of FMCG major Marico and an independent director on Delhivery’s board, has also stepped down.

Kapoor exits after an eight-year stint that included steering the company through its 2022 stock-market debut, a period that saw Delhivery transform from a venture-backed upstart into one of India’s most visible logistics platforms. Gupta, who joined the board in 2021, departs alongside him, marking a simultaneous clearing of two senior independent seats.

“Deepak and Saugata have been instrumental in our process of recognising the need for and enabling the reconstitution of the board of directors in line with our ambitious next phase of growth,” said Sahil Barua, managing director and chief executive, Delhivery. The statement frames the exits less as departures and more as deliberate succession, a boardroom shuffle timed to the company’s evolving scale and strategy.

The resignations arrive amid broader governance recalibration. In 2025, Delhivery appointed Emcure Pharmaceuticals whole-time director Namita Thapar, PB Fintech founder and chairman Yashish Dahiya, and IIM Bangalore faculty member Padmini Srinivasan as independent directors, signalling a tilt towards consumer, fintech and academic expertise at the board level.

Kapoor’s tenure spanned Delhivery’s most defining years, rapid network expansion, public listing and the push towards profitability in a bruising logistics market. Gupta’s presence brought FMCG and brand-scale perspective during a period when ecommerce volumes and last-mile delivery economics were being rewritten.

The twin exits, effective from the new financial year, underscore a familiar corporate rhythm: founders consolidate, veterans rotate out, and fresh voices are ushered in to script the next chapter. In India’s hyper-competitive logistics race, even the boardroom does not stand still.

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Meta appoints Anuvrat Rao as APAC head of commerce partnerships

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SINGAPORE: Anuvrat Rao has taken charge as APAC  head of commerce and signals partnerships at Meta, steering monetisation deals across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp from Singapore. The former Google executive, known for launching Google Assistant, PWAs, AMP and Firebase across Asia-Pacific, steps into the role after a high-growth stint as chief business officer at Locofy.ai.

At Locofy.ai, Rao helped convert a three-year free beta into a paid engine, clocking 1,000 subscribers and 15 enterprise clients within ten days of launch in September 2024. The low-code startup, backed by Accel and top tech founders, is famed for turning designs into production-ready code using proprietary large design models.

Before that, Rao founded generative AI venture 1Bstories, which was acquired by creative AI platform Laetro in mid-2024, where he briefly served as managing director for APAC. Alongside operating roles, he has been an active investor and advisor since 2020, backing startups such as BotMD, Muxy, Creator plus, Intellect, Sealed and CricFlex through a creator-economy-led thesis.

Rao spent over eight years at Google, holding senior partnership roles across search, assistant, chrome, web and YouTube in APAC, and earlier cut his teeth in strategy consulting at OC&C in London and investment finance at W. P. Carey in Europe and the US.

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Brnd.me enters Europe as haircare brands power global expansion

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Bengaluru:  Brnd.me, the global consumer brands company formerly known as Mensa Brands, has entered the European market following strong momentum across the Middle East, the United States and Canada.

The company has launched across the UK, Germany, France and Spain, with plans to expand into Italy, the Netherlands and Poland over the next year. The push is being led by its haircare and aromatherapy brands, Botanic Hearth and Majestic Pure, marking Brnd.me’s first structured expansion into Europe.

The European beauty market represents a total addressable opportunity of over $4 billion across haircare and aromatherapy, supported by high digital adoption and demand for accessible, performance-led products.

Brnd.me’s hair care and aromatherapy business currently operates at an annual run rate of around $6 million, with Botanic Hearth and Majestic Pure delivering roughly 10 per cent month-on-month growth, driven by expansion and rising repeat demand.

To support regional growth, the company has appointed a general manager based in Germany and is evaluating investments in warehousing and local team expansion.

Early traction has been strong. Within weeks of launch, Botanic Hearth’s rosemary hair oil ranked among the top five hair oils in Germany, signalling strong consumer pull in a competitive market.

Brnd.me founder and chief executive officer Ananth Narayanan, said Europe represents the next phase of the company’s international strategy. He added that the European business is expected to scale to a $10 million annual run rate by the end of 2026, with long-term ambitions to reach $60 million over the next six years.

The company’s Europe strategy centres on digital-first distribution, repeat demand and TikTok-led discovery, alongside direct-to-consumer expansion to strengthen brand equity and margins.

The move also aligns with growing EU–India trade engagement, supporting long-term sourcing and cross-border supply chains.

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