A lot happened in Indian marketing industry this year. Several startups marketers moved in and out of jobs. Top tech and consumer companies saw shake ups in their marketing departments. Many leading marketers got responsibilities. Here’s a recap.
January
Tarun Jha
Tarun Jha stepped down as the head of marketing at Skoda Auto to join Havas Media Group.
Vikram Bahl
Former Unilever executive Vikram Bahl moved to United Breweries (A HEINEKEN Group Company) as chief marketing officer.
Mayur Hola
Mayur Hola became Everstone’s food and beverages platform Culinary Brands as the chief marketing officer. Before that he was with Oyo.
Ajay Simha
Nivea India’s marketing director Ajay Simha quit.
Shashwat Goswami
Gifting company Ferns N Petals appointed Shashwat Goswami as chief marketing officer.
Konark Gaur
D2C beauty acre brand Pilgrim roped in Konark Gaur as the chief marketing officer.
March
Sumit Mathur
Paytm roped in Sumit Mathur as the chief marketing officer. Prior to that, he was with Kellogg India’s.
Read More: Kellogg India’s Sumit Mathur joins Paytm as CMO
Deepali Naair
Deepali Naair, director, digital sales-India, IBM, joined CK Birla Group as its group chief marketing officer. She was with IBM for nearly five years before taking on the new role.
Gaurav Mehta
Connected lifestyle tech brand, Noise, hired Gaurav Mehta as its chief marketing officer. Prior to joining Noise, Mehta was leading the marketing function at organisations across sectors such as technology, IT and online gaming.
Neha Kathuria
Software platform engineering company Infogain appointed Neha Kathuria as the chief marketing officer. Before joining Infogain, Kathuria was the global head of marketing at LTIMindtree.
April
Vinay Subramanyam
Kellogg India hired Vinay Subramanyam as the head of marketing for its business in India and South Asia markets, which are Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives. He was the CMO of Pidilite Industries.
P.Rajendran
Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate roped in P.Rajendran as chief sales and marketing officer.
Antara Kundu
Forest Essentials appointed Antara Kundu as the head of marketing and communications. Kundu has worked with companies like Nielsen, Unilever, Colorbar USA, Avon and Kama Ayurveda.
Avinash Choudhury
Cafe chain Chaayos appointed Avinash Choudhary as the head of marketing.
Akshay Kapoor
Real estate company DLF hired Akshay Kapoor as chief marketing officer. Kapoor has worked with companies like Dabur India, and Pernod Ricard India.
Kedar Apte
Kedar Apte quit Jio-bp as chief marketing officer after a span of nearly three years. He has worked at Hindustan Unilever and Castrol.
Mustufa Arsiwalla
Britannia Bel Foods roped in Mustufa Arsiwalla as chief marketing officer.
Alok Arya
Research & Ranking, the equity investment advisory brand, part of Equentis Wealth Advisory Services appointed Alok Arya as the chief marketing officer.
Anuja Trivedi
Entertainment company Shemaroo Entertainment roped in Anuja Trivedi as the chief marketing officer.
May
Basant Dhawan
Capri Global Capita appointed Basant Dhawan as the group chief marketing officer.
Kapila Sethi
William Grant & Sons hired Kapila Sethi as head of marketing.
Nishit B Vora
Nishit B Vora joined Viacom18 as the head of marketing, brand and digital.
Joydeep Mukherjee
Deltatech Gaming appointed Joydeep Mukherjee as chief marketing officer.
Ashish Lingamneni, Aparna Giridhar, Saurabh Nath
Swiggy’s VP of marketing Ashish Lingamneni quit. Aparna Giridhar replaced him. Saurabh Nath, Swiggy’s head of brand marketing also quit soon after.
June
Deepika Warrier
Diageo India’s chief marketing officer Deepika Warrier moved on to join Baja Auto. Ruchira Jaitly stepped into her shoes.
Read More: Diageo India’s CMO Deepika Warrier quits; Ruchira Jaitly to take over
Pranay Rao
Nothing appointed Pranay Rao as head of marketing – India.
Sneha Kanukolanu
Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail hired Sneha Kanukolanu as head of marketing.
Prashant Verma
Prashant Verma became chief marketing and revenue officer of Licious.
Saloni Shah
L’Oréal India elevated Saloni Shah to chief digital & marketing officer (CDMO). She is with the company since 2013
July
Gauri Malhotra
Bombay Shaving Company appointed Gauri Malhotra as chief marketing officer. Malhotra has worked in companies like Perfect Relations, Text 100 and Marico.
Sourabh Lohtia
Sourabh Lohtia joined PNB MetLife as head of marketing.
Rajashree R, Abhinav Kumar
Software company Tata Consultancy Services’ (TCS) CMO Rajashree R transitioned into the role of a vice president. Abhinav Kumar became the CMO.
Read More: Abhinav Kumar to take over from Rajashree R as CMO of TCS: Report
August
Shalini Raghavan
Shalini Raghavan Indian cosmetics and fashion ecommerce major Nyka quit as chief marketing office. Nykaa’s founder and CEO Falguni Nayar stepped up to take direct oversight of the marketing function.
Read More: Nykaa CMO Shalini Raghavan quits; Founder and CEO Falguni Nayar takes charge
Zeenah Vilcassim
Zeenah Vilcassim moved on as marketing director from Bacardi India. Vilcassim has worked with firms like Ernst & Young, Mindshare and Protein.
Sajeev Chemmany
Kalyan Jewellers promoted Sajeev Chemmany as chief marketing officer. Chemmany has worked with companies CNBC-TV18, India TV, NDTV Profit, NDTV Worldwide and WayBeyond Media.
Manish Dubey
Pidilite Industries appointed Manish Dubey as chief marketing officer. In his prior role at ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Dubey held the position of chief of marketing and e-commerce.
Prasant Kar
Monster Energy appointed Prasant Kar as marketing director.
September
Mukta Maheshwari, Sharat Verma
Procter & Gamble promoted Mukta Maheshwari as chief marketing officer; vice president & category head. Maheshwari has also worked at Cadbury Gifting India.
Maheshwari took over from Sharat Verma in the role, who was promoted as the senior vice president, fabric care for P&G India, Middle East, and Africa (IMEA).
Mustufa Arsiwalla
Italian confectionery major Ferrero appointed Mustufa Arsiwalla as trade marketing director.
Ajeet Bawa
Ajeet Bawa joined Spencer’s Retail as head of marketing. Bawa has worked with companies like HomeShop 18, Flipkart, Paytm and VLCC.
Shirish Agarwal
Samsung has appointed Shirish Agarwal as director – marketing. He has worked with firms like Cyber Media, Times Internet and HP.
October
Sanjay Koul
Mankind Pharma promoted Sanjay Koul as chief marketing officer. He started his innings at the pharmaceutical company in the year 2015.
Samriddh Dasgupta
Samriddh Dasgupta quit Heads Up For Tails as chief marketing officer.
Shivani Behl
Shivani Behl, who led Pureplay Skin Sciences as chief marketing officer, moved to skincare brand Foxtale as CMO.
November
Ravi Santhanam
Ravi Santhanam, who was HDFC Bank’s chief marketing officer and head of corporate communications, got promoted to group head and CMO.
Rohit Talwar
Castrol India, manufacturer of automotive and industrial lubricants appointed Rohit Talwar as vice president and head of marketing.
Peeyush Dubey
Peeyush Dubey was brought on board by Tech Mahindra as the chief marketing officer. Previously, he was the chief marketing and strategy officer at TheMathCompany.
Sidharth Shakdher
Sidharth Shakdher, who was the executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Disney+ Hotstar, stepped down from his position.
Charu Kishnani
Charu Kishnani, who led CarDekho as executive vice president – marketing, was promoted to chief marketing officer.
Deepa Krishnan
Hyatt Hotels appointed Deepa Krishnan as head of marketing. Krishnan has worked across Godrej Appliances, Diageo India and Kantar.
December
Amrit Baid
Mercedes-Benz appointed Amrit Baid as head of marketing and customer journey which will be effective from February 1, 2024.
Harman Dhillon, Madhusudhan Rao
FMCG major Hindustan Unilever made transition of its Beauty and Personal Care division to Beauty & Wellbeing (B&W) and Personal Care (PC) businesses from April 1, 2024. The company also made changes and appointments to its management committee (MC) deepening the focus in the Beauty and Personal Care division.
Harman Dhillon will join the HUL MC as Executive Director, Beauty & Wellbeing, and Kartik Chandrasekhar will join the MC as Executive Director, Personal Care from April 1, 2024. Madhusudhan Rao the present executive director of the B&E and PC business has decided to retire from the company.