ITV

Tag: CEO

  • Pidilite CEO Chandramouli Venkatesan passes away

    Pidilite CEO Chandramouli Venkatesan passes away

    NEW DELHI- Pidilite Industries Ltd CEO, special projects Chandramouli Venkatesan passed away on October 6 after a prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 54.

    Fondly known as ‘Mouli’, Venkatesan was associated with Pidilite Industries from 2017. He was not just an industry veteran, but also a successful author – having penned the best-sellers Catalyst and Get Better at Getting Better, published by Penguin Random House India in 2018.

    Before taking charge at Pidilite, Venkatesan worked at Mondelez International (erstwhile Cadbury India) from 2012 for three years and served as its managing director from January 2015 to August 2016. He had joined the company in 2005 and was instrumental in scaling up the chocolate business.

    During his long and varied career, he also worked at companies like Onida and Asian Paints.

    Colleagues and peers poured their hearts out on social media and shared fond memories of Venkatesan.

    Eros International Media Limited Pradeep Dwivedi CEO – India wrote, “Dear All, while some of you may be aware, I am heartbroken and very sorry to share that we have lost our dear friend #Mouli -Chandramouli Venkatesan, Ex-Mondelez, Pidilite, today. An amazing and warm human being, author, coach, and mentor to many of us in the industry. He has left a shocking void. Prayers for the dear departed soul R.I.P.”

    Marketing industry veteran Lloyd Mathias took Twitter to mourn Mouli’s sudden departure.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Subhash Kamat: “We are looking for government collabs for ASCI”

    Subhash Kamat: “We are looking for government collabs for ASCI”

    NEW DELHI: Last week, BBH & Publicis Worldwide India CEO Subhash Kamat was unanimously elected as chairman of the board of governors of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), an independent industry body that works towards protecting the consumers' interests by containing the menace of misleading ads. The veteran ad man replaced the outgoing chairman Rohit Gupta who served in that the position for a year. Kamath has been an active member of The Ad Club in the past and has been serving on the board of governors of Asci since 2010.

    Kamat has his work cut out for him: ASCI is not the only body which can crack the whip on advertising: there’s the Central  Consumer Protection Authority which apparently has powers to penalise errant advertisers. There’s a huge surge in political advertising, which does not come under its remit. Then there’s the continuing explosion in digital advertising, online and on OTT platforms.

    Indiantelevision.com’s Dolly Mahayan got into a conversation with Kamat on the challenges before Asci, how it is dealing with them, what is he going to immediately focus on, and what kind of a legacy he would like to leave behind. He also spoke about the industry watchdog's guidelines on big and small brands to curb misleading advertisements and what lies in the future around the celebrity influencer guidelines. Excerpts from the interview:

    Read more news on ASCI

    What will be your immediate role and responsibilities? What are your top priorities? 

    We must continue to build on our past milestones, as well as work hard to take our work to the next level. Collaborations across different stakeholders, making ourselves technologically savvier, will be some key objectives so that we are able to address the opportunities of the future stronger and better. In terms of the regulatory context, we have a new consumer protection law and the Central Consumer Protection Authority. Therefore, the context in which ASCI functions has also been transformed. All this makes it imperative for us to think hard about codes, guidelines, regulations, etc. We will build on our past work. The question is what should we do to take this work to the next level? I’d love to see the Consumer Complaints Council and board members working more closely together. The intellectual debate that would follow would raise the quality of decisions and the standards of internal working.

    How do you plan to further strengthen the teeth of ASCI?

    With the digital revolution influencing brand messaging and engagement with consumers, advertising is evolving rapidly. And with the recent formation of the Central Consumer Protection Authority constituted by the government, self-regulation will be even more crucial in promoting consumer confidence and trust. Our industry today is at a crucial stage.In addition to the above, we will look for more close collaborations with government departments.

    How do you plan to regulate the brands and agencies to stop coming up with misleading ads?

    We already have a clear code in place that is continuously evolving. Our processes have kept pace too. For instance, we now monitor 3,000 digital platforms in addition to print and TV through the national advertising monitoring service. We now cover 80 per cent of India’s ad spend. We have a transparent and easy complaints redressal process and we offer fast-tracking of it too. Because we’re self-regulated, we have consistently had a compliance rate of well over 90 per cent.

    What is the way forward on celebrity influencer guidelines?

    The world over, people follow celebrities and get influenced by them. The ASCI code clearly states that celebrities must do due diligence to ensure that the advertisements they appear in do not violate ASCI codes so that they don’t land up misleading consumers. It’s reasonable to expect that celebrities be mindful of what they attach their name to because they have the trust of millions of consumers.

    A lot of small agencies across different pockets of the country are less aware of the role and functionality of ASCI. How do you intend to aware of them? 

    We already have a robust awareness creation mechanism. We do this through regular interaction with the media and also through very active social media channels. That is why consumers know and agencies know about us and approach us in such large numbers.

    Read more stories on Subhash Kamath

    While we see big and small brands coming up with misleading ads across categories, which are the top five  categories with the most misleading ads?

    Last year, the food and beverage, healthcare, and education sectors accounted for 79 per cent of the complaints processed by ASCI. These are sectors we’re looking at closely, especially given the claims about Covid2019 preventions and cures.

    What will be the key milestone that you would want to achieve in this position?

    To be completely in sync with the new digital reality.

  • OkCredit and Delhi Capitals join hands to empower small businesses

    OkCredit and Delhi Capitals join hands to empower small businesses

    NEW DELHI:  OkCredit – ‘Digital India ka Digital Bahi Khata’, has partnered with Delhi Capitals (DC) as their principal sponsor for the upcoming season of Indian Premier League (IPL), starting on 19 September 2020 in UAE. During the tournament, OkCredit will be known as the ‘Official Digital Credit Ledger’ of Delhi Capitals.

    Through this association, it will endeavour to leverage its journey of digitising the micro and small business landscape in India amongst the huge fan base of the team and tournament.

    It is also supporting Delhi Capitals in getting ‘Vocal for Local’ by empowering various small and iconic retail businesses across the city with their simple to use digital solutions. As part of ‘Vocal for Local’ campaign, Delhi Capitals will tell stories of some of the most iconic shops and vendors who have become a part of the city’s unique identity over the years. OkCredit will further directly support these retailers who have now been impacted by the ongoing pandemic; to grow their business and expand their reach by helping them to go digital.

    OkCredit  co-founder & CEO Harsh Pokharna said, “We are pleased to associate with Delhi Capitals as their Principal Sponsor in the upcoming IPL Season. IPL enjoys a humungous response each year and through this partnership, we hope to reach the nook and corner of our country and take a step forward in the vision of creating a Digital India. We look forward to the tournament and wish the team all the best.”

    Meanwhile, Delhi Capitals CEO  Dhiraj Malhotra said, “We are delighted to have OkCredit onboard as the Official Digital Credit Ledger of Delhi Capitals. This pandemic has again highlighted the importance of going digital for both big and small businesses. OkCredit's innovative digital ledger will provide great utility to local businesses as they recover from the lockdown. I want to thank the entire team at OkCredit for extending their valuable support.”

    The Delhi Capitals’ ‘Vocal for Local’ campaign powered by OkCredit will go live building up to this year’s edition of the IPL celebrating and supporting local businesses that contributed to our city’s colourful culture. OkCredit’s digital solutions will help them adapt to the changing world while preserving their roots and heritage.

  • Sashidhar Jagdishan appointed new CEO of HDFC Bank

    Sashidhar Jagdishan appointed new CEO of HDFC Bank

    NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved Sashidhar Jagdishan as the next the chief executive officer of HDFC Bank.

    "The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) vide its communication dated 3 August 2020, has approved the appointment of Sashidhar  Jagdishan as managing director & CEO of the Bank  for a period of three years wef his date of  taking charge, i.e., 27 October 2020, under Section 35B of  the Banking Regulation Act 1949," HDFC said in a statement.

    Jagdishan will replace Aditya Puri, current managing director and CEO of HDFC Bank, who is set to retire on 26 October. "A meeting of the board of directors of the bank will be convened in due course inter-alia to approve the appointment of Jagdishan as the MD & CEO," the bank said. 

    Puri's successor Jagdishan was among the top two internal candidates for the top job at HDFC Bank. Kaizad Barucha, who has the highest board experience, was the senior-most candidate in the fray.

    He is currently serving as the additional director of HDFC Bank and has been with the bank for nearly three decades. He served as the group head of finance, human resources, legal & secretarial, administration, infrastructure, corporate communications and corporate social responsibility.

    Jagdishan was the bank's top choice among the three shortlisted candidates, with Kaizad Bharucha and Sunil Garg also in the running.

  • OkCupid rolls out new product feature Stacks

    OkCupid rolls out new product feature Stacks

    NEW DELHI: This week OkCupid is rolling out the biggest mobile app redesign globally in the brand’s history, including playful icons and a new matching system — “Stacks” —  that consolidates multiple discovery methods into one, making it even more fun to find the type of person you’re looking for.

    The new Stacks discovery experience shows you, people, in a focused, thoughtful way, and gives you choice and control over who you’re dating through a series of new categories:

    Recommended
    Question Pros
    Online
    Nearby
    New People (paid)
    Popular (paid)
    Match % (coming soon)
    We know that one of the hardest parts of dating is actually finding your person — so when we began reimagining what our platform could become, we kept that top of our mind. Now users can easily tap into each of the above categories to find someone based on who and what they’re looking for.

    Our Question Pros Stack is an industry first, recognizing higher-intent daters who, research shows, are

    more likely to want a meaningful relationship. Answering more questions is a sign of investment in the dating process and willingness to really get to know someone, which in turn signals that someone is ready to be in a meaningful relationship so we wanted to be sure to include a Stack category that celebrated these users. Our matching questions help us connect people with those they’re most compatible with, encourage people to really think about what’s important to them in dating and relationships, and localize and personalize the experience for our users around the world. And there’s been over 295 million responses to our matching questions this year (8+ billion responses since we launched).

    And Stacks really does work! Since we began testing Stacks, women on OkCupid started sending 2X as many likes as they were previously! And while women are more likely to use the Questions Pro Stack, the most popular Stacks are Online and Nearby.

    So whether you're looking to chat with someone who you have a high Match % with (which means we think you'll really like them), who’s Online Now or even Nearby, “Stacks” makes it easier and more fun.

    OkCupid CEO Ariel Charytan said: “We know that daters are looking for different things at different times, and we want to empower people on OkCupid to choose their own preferences as they match on what matters to them. Over the years, we’ve spoken to millions of daters and successful couples, and through these conversations we learned that people want control over their own path. When creating “Stacks” we aimed to put the power back into the hands of our daters. They’re in control, we just gave them the map to navigate their own dating and relationship journey.”

  • Paytm Money appoints Varun Sridhar as CEO

    Paytm Money appoints Varun Sridhar as CEO

    NEW DELHI: India’s largest online investment & wealth management platform Paytm Money today announced the appointment of Varun Sridhar, as the new chief executive officer of Paytm Money. He will lead the launch & development of the equity brokerage other than growing the already successful mutual funds, NPS and Gold services. Under his leadership, the company will continue to simplify, innovate, and bring wealth management products to millions of Indians. He will be reporting to Amit Nayyar, president at Paytm.

    Sridhar has led the digital transformation journey of some of the top retail banks in India and abroad. Most recently he served as CEO of FinShell India where he launched realme PaySa a fintech platform on mobile. Prior to this role, he was with BNP Paribas for close to eight years where amongst other assignments he supported the acquisition of Sharekhan. As a board member & member of the executive committee, he supported the scale-up of the digital equity brokerage & mutual fund business. He did his MBA from the prestigious SDA Bocconi School of Management, Milan Italy, and graduated from the University of Delhi.

    Nayyar said, “Paytm Money is on a mission to empower millions of Indians with wealth management products. We are very excited to welcome Varun, whose experience in retail banking, broking, and wealth segment would help us accelerate our goals. I look forward to working closely with him to expand Paytm Money further."

    Sridhar said, "I am thrilled to be part of the team that is responsible for introducing wealth management services to consumers in both India and Bharat and making meaningful financial inclusion simple & easy. At Paytm Money, I hope to build along with a fantastic team the most cost-effective & consumer-friendly products & experience for investors & traders. The wealth management and financial service solutions that Paytm is building are transforming the lives of millions of Indians and are relevant globally as well."

    Paytm Money also announced that Amit Kapoor has joined as the new CFO & vice president for the company. Prior to this role, he was working with Aviva India as CFO of the life insurance company. 

  • Google pledges Rs 75,000 cr for Indian digital economy

    Google pledges Rs 75,000 cr for Indian digital economy

    NEW DELHI: Google has announced that it will invest around Rs 75,000 crore ($10 billion) in India over the next five to seven years. The announcement was made by Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.

    “Google will do this as a mix of equity investments, partnerships and operational infrastructure in the ecosystem investments. Investments will focus on four areas: enabling affordable access to information to every Indian in their own language, building products and services that cater to India's needs, empower businesses to transform digitally and lastly leveraging technology and AI for social good in health, agriculture and education,” Pichai announced.

    “This is a reflection of our confidence in the future of India and its digital economy," Pichai said during the annual 'Google for India' event.

    The CEO thanked prime minister Modi for the Digital India vision. He said, “Low-cost smartphones, affordable data, and world-class telecom infrastructure has helped digital India become a reality.”

    Pichai shared, “India is setting the global standards on how to digitise payments and now it’s helping us to build the global product. Our AI-powered Bolo app is another example of technology build specifically for Indian users. Today, Indians do not have to wait to use the latest technology any longer.”

    He also mentioned that the digitisation of small business has been a success story. Just four years ago, one-third of small businesses in India had an online presence, but today 26 million SMBs in India are searchable on Google platforms. 

    “Digitisation of SMBs has increased greatly in India; small businesses are now joining the formal economy by using digital payments. India’s digital economy is far from complete. There is still more work to do in order to make the internet affordable and useful for billions of Indians,” Pichai added.

    In the last year's summit, Google unveiled tokenised cards, an artificial intelligence lab in Bengaluru, BSNL partnership, Google Pay for Business app for merchants and expanded Indian language support across its products such as Google Assistant, Discover, Lens and Bolo. 

  • Shoppers Stop MD and CEO Rajiv Suri resigns

    Shoppers Stop MD and CEO Rajiv Suri resigns

    NEW DELHI: Shoppers Stop MD and CEO Rajiv Suri has tendered his resignation for personal reasons, effective 25 August 2020 to pursue a career in a company outside India. 

    The board of directors of the company at its meeting has accepted his resignation and placed on record their appreciation for the contribution made by him during his tenure. 

    In the interim period, the company shall be managed by an experienced CXO committee to ensure the stability of operations and strategic initiatives.

  • Deepika Deepti joins Bhaane as CEO

    Deepika Deepti joins Bhaane as CEO

    MUMBAI: Community-first brand Bhaane has appointed Deepika Deepti as CEO. With an online shop, three brick-and-mortar stores annexed with cafes; and a cohesive integration with cult sneaker brand VegNonVeg, Deepika’s role will involve managing and strategic expansion of the brand both domestically and internationally while monitoring the bottom-line impact.

    She has a strong understanding of product and consumer dynamics, grasp of marketing levers, an ability to identify and engage emerging talent along with a progressive outlook on what it means to be a global Indian in 2020.

    A former director – brands activations – emerging markets, Adidas, Deepika has an illustrious 11-year-long career. Through clever creative partnerships, skilfully curated influencer marketing and experimental retail formats, Deepika created milestone moments in the brand’s India trajectory. Her international partnership highlights include an experiential campaign with tennis icon Stan Smith and music icon Pharrell Williams; later conducting an exclusive tour during Holi to launch an exclusive design.

    “Deepika has the ability to sync the creative, culture and corporate worlds. We welcome her to the role and together aim to mark a new chapter in strengthening and fuelling the growth of our culture first brand through creative intersection of design, e-commerce, social responsibility and team efficiencies,” said Bhaane founder Anand S Ahuja.

    “I’m excited and committed to drive the power of self-expression, culture, and community that Bhaane stands for. I hope to strengthen the brand’s relatable voice, improve execution while embracing inclusivity across the organization and the people of modern India to whom Bhaane belongs to and thrives with,” said Deepika

    Bhaane’s future is that of growth and deepening – one that is sustainable, sensitive and multi-faceted. Deepika’s immediate goals include sharpening the retail footprint with an enhanced product offering and consumer experiences. This season will see a focus on building retail experiences, starting with a new exclusive store in Bengaluru and an international collaboration with Wolf and Badger, UK. The brand will continue to grow as a dynamic space by hosting like-minded brands, including vegan accessory brand Mat&Nat, fine perfumes by DS&Durga and an ecological French sneaker brand Veja.  Under her leadership, the group will host more independent brands in time.

    She is based in New Delhi.

  • Jim Hamilton appointed as new OmniActive CEO

    Jim Hamilton appointed as new OmniActive CEO

    MUMBAI: OmniActive Health Technologies MD Sanjaya Mariwala announced the appointment of Jim Hamilton as global CEO, as named by the board of directors. The appointment becomes effective on 1 June and Hamilton will be based in the US.

    For the past 15 years, OmniActive, with its mission of improving lives through enhancing nutrition, has grown under the leadership of its founder, Sanjaya Mariwala, who becomes executive chairman.

    Hamilton has spent over 35 years in the nutrition products industry, serving in a wide range of executive positions. Most recently, he served as president and CEO of Neptune Wellness Solutions (NASDAQ—TSX: NEPT), where, during his five-year tenure, he planned and delivered a significant turnaround of the business through acquisitions and timely divestitures. Prior to this, he was a member of DSM Nutritional Products Human Nutrition’s global business management team holding responsibility for its North American operations.

    "I’m delighted to announce Jim’s appointment and believe that he’s the right leader for OmniActive for our next phase of growth. He has a proven track record of successfully driving businesses forward and positioning them for success," said Mariwala. 

    Hamilton commented, "I’m excited to join OmniActive, a company with an impressive history and an exceptionally bright future. I’ve known OmniActive for many years and have great respect for what it has accomplished, it’s fantastic products, deep relationships with its customers and its great team. It is uniquely positioned for success in an industry that provides great health and wellbeing benefits and whose role has never been more important than now."

    Follow Tellychakkar for the consumer facing news & entertainment