MAM
Rajasthan taps into change as Watershed Mahotsav pours spotlight on revival
MUMBAI: Rajasthan is gearing up for a celebration that’s less about pomp and more about ponds as the Watershed Mahotsav flows into Ajmer on 6 December, spotlighting how community-led action is rewriting the state’s water story. Hosted at the JLN Medical College Auditorium, the Mahotsav brings together government teams, village leaders and partner organisations to reflect on one question that has quietly transformed the desert state, what happens when people take charge of their own water security?
The event will put the achievements of the Mukhya Mantri Jal Swalamban Abhiyan (MJSA) and the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchay Yojana (PMKSY) under the lens, with teams from five districts presenting real on-ground shifts. Panchayati Raj members, local leadership and community representatives will share how watershed interventions have reshaped agriculture, storage and daily life. Senior dignitaries, including MP Bhagirath Choudhary and six MLAs from Ajmer, are slated to attend, underscoring the importance of the moment.
Piramal Foundation, a partner to the Watershed and Soil Conservation Department, is anchoring the Mahotsav to reinforce the power of Jan Bhagidari, a belief that durable water security emerges when communities co-create solutions. A short film by the Foundation, developed with the A.T.E. Chandra Foundation (ATECF), will be screened to show how desilting can measurably expand storage capacity and be funded through Finance Commission allocations. The film makes a compelling case for a low-cost, replicable rejuvenation model built on collective ownership rather than dependence.
The scale of progress already paints a vivid picture. In the past three years, ATECF and its partner organisations have rejuvenated nearly 1,180 waterbodies across 12 districts. Backed by FFC funding and implemented with the Piramal Foundation, the effort has been particularly effective in underserved areas 14 per cent of the rejuvenation has taken place in NITI Aayog’s Aspirational Districts and Blocks. The results are formidable: 1,191 crore litres of additional storage created, equivalent to over 10 lakh tanker trips, impacting an estimated 1.7 million people across roughly 1,700 villages.
Data from WRIS maps the road ahead. Rajasthan has approximately 82,000 waterbodies, of which nearly 49,000 are viable for revival. Aligning large-scale rejuvenation with MJSA could unlock water security for 26,000 villages, generate an estimated 33,210 crore litres of potential storage and save nearly Rs 9,963 crore in tanker expenditure. For a state living on the edge of the monsoon, the numbers speak louder than any speech.
The sentiment was echoed by Piramal Foundation lead of school of climate & sustainability Sangeeta Mamgain who said the organisation is adapting its Gandhi Fellowship model to strengthen natural resource management. “Through our collaboration with the Directorate of Watershed Development & Soil Conservation under MJSA in Ajmer, we aim to support machine-led rejuvenation of water bodies and contribute to a more climate-resilient Rajasthan.”
ATECF COO Amrtha Kasturi Rangan added, “Restoration accelerates when people, institutions and systems work together rather than apart. Watershed Mahotsav is a moment to acknowledge that shared effort. We remain committed to approaches that place people at the front and protect ecosystems.”
Offering a forward-looking view, Watershed Development and Soil Conservation IAS and director Muhammad Junaid P. P. said, “The journey ahead remains significant. By collaboratively shaping a clear action pathway, we can strengthen long-term engagement and secure durable outcomes for communities across Rajasthan.”
With stakeholders from across sectors gathering in a single room, the Watershed Mahotsav aims to be more than an event, it aims to be a turning point. A place where stories from the field meet policy, where numbers meet lived experience, and where Rajasthan’s long-term vision for water security gathers momentum one revived waterbody at a time.
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.
MAM
Meta appoints Anuvrat Rao as APAC head of commerce partnerships
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.
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.
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