Brands
India’s year-end dating reset: fewer swipes, clearer hearts
MUMBAI: As the curtain falls on 2025, India’s dating scene is doing what it does best at the end of the year: pausing, pondering and quietly panicking. According to fresh insights from homegrown dating app QuackQuack, singles across the country are taking a long, honest look at their love lives and changing how they match, chat and commit.
Based on a year-end survey of 9,746 active users aged 22 to 35 from Tier 1, 2 and 3 cities, the app notes a clear shift in mood. Dating, once breezy and experimental, has turned more thoughtful and deliberate as the new year approaches.
“This December, dating is far less casual and far more reflective,” said QuackQuack founder and CEO Ravi Mittal. “We see this every year. The new year brings a sense of urgency, but what stands out is that people are not chasing more matches. They are chasing the right one.”
Resolutionary dating takes over
Just as fitness goals surge in January, dating resolutions are having a moment too. Nearly 44 per cent of users aged 22 to 28 admitted they are rethinking past dating choices, while three in five said they no longer want to settle for less. The result is what QuackQuack calls resolutionary dating.
Low-effort chats are being quietly dropped, while self-awareness is in. User bios are filling up with phrases like “consistent”, “emotionally available” and “worth my effort”, signalling a move away from surface-level attraction towards compatibility that actually lasts.
The great chat autopsy
Reflection, of course, comes with a touch of overthinking. Three in five daters from Tier 1 and 2 cities confessed to revisiting old conversations, analysing replies and re-reading jokes to figure out where things slipped.
This habit is especially common among those who have faced ghosting, almost-relationships or situationships that never quite found a name. Advait, a 26-year-old from Pune, summed it up neatly. “I dissected every ‘haha’ and every dry reply. In some cases, I realised we were never compatible. I was just trying too hard to make it work.”
Plus-one panic and wedding season woes
Add wedding season to the mix and anxiety inevitably rises. With the familiar line “You are next” echoing around banquet halls, 27 per cent of women and 31 per cent of men above 26 reported feeling heightened dating pressure at year end.
Some admitted to reopening old chats, only to be reminded why they ended. Around 18 per cent said they tried fast-tracking conversations to make one match stick, though most agreed the rush rarely led anywhere good.
Yet panic is not always pointless. Two in five daters over 30 said the pressure has pushed them to be bolder, more honest and quicker to share non-negotiables. For many, the year-end scramble has delivered something unexpected: clarity.
As 2026 beckons, India’s singles seem less interested in fairytale timelines and more focused on getting it right. Fewer swipes, deeper conversations and higher standards are setting the tone for the year ahead.
Brands
Delhivery chairman Deepak Kapoor, independent director Saugata Gupta quit board
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.
Brands
Brnd.me enters Europe as haircare brands power global expansion
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.
Brands
TechnoSport taps quick commerce with launch on Slikk’s 60-minute platform
NATIONAL: TechnoSport has launched on Slikk, the ultra-fast fashion app offering 60-minute delivery, as the activewear brand accelerates its push into quick commerce to capture Gen Z and young millennial shoppers.
The debut brings more than 150 high-performance styles to Slikk’s platform, with an average selling price of Rs 450, expanding TechnoSport’s reach across over 80 pin codes.
The partnership follows strong momentum for TechnoSport across Q-commerce channels, where the brand has recorded around 60 per cent volume growth over the past six months. The company expects quick commerce to contribute nearly 20 per cent of its revenue in the coming years as hyperlocal delivery gains scale.
Slikk, which recently raised $3.2 million in seed funding led by Lightspeed, has rapidly gained popularity among youth consumers seeking speed, trend relevance and impulse-led shopping experiences.
Activewear remains one of Slikk’s fastest-growing categories, driven by shoppers increasingly treating fitness-led fashion as an everyday essential. The platform has reported a 30-fold year-on-year increase in items sold, reflecting rising demand for performance wear that blends comfort with style.
TechnoSport chief executive officer Puspen Maity, said the collaboration would help the brand engage more closely with young consumers whose fashion choices are shaped by instant needs and lifestyle aspirations. He added that rapid delivery bridges the gap between intent and purchase, allowing shoppers to access activewear exactly when they want it.
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