Keep up with all the key people movements in the brand marketing ecosystem in Storyboard18’s CXO Moves. Here’s a round-up of the executives who’ve moved jobs, got bigger roles, switched industries and more.
Anant Ambani
Present: Whole-time director, Reliance Industries
Reliance Industries has named Anant M. Ambani, the youngest son of chairman Mukesh Ambani, as a whole-time director of the company.
Ambani also serves on the boards of several Reliance group companies, including Jio Platforms since March 2020, Reliance Retail Ventures since May 2022, and Reliance New Energy and Reliance New Solar Energy since June 2021. He has also been a board member of Reliance Foundation since September 2022.
Shobhit Malhotra
Previous: Vice president and general manager, Colgate-Palmolive
Present: Chief executive officer, iD Fresh Foods
iD Fresh Foods has named Shobhit Malhotra as CEO. He has worked across Unilever and PepsiCo.
R Velusamy and Veejay Nakra
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. has announced a series of high-level executive changes affecting its automotive, farm equipment, and logistics businesses.
R. Velusamy, a longtime executive with the Mumbai-based conglomerate, has been appointed President of the company’s Automotive Business. Previously Head of Automotive Technology and Product Development, Velusamy will now assume responsibility for Mahindra’s entire automotive portfolio, including its sport utility vehicle (SUV) and light commercial vehicle (LCV) segments. The move brings the company’s vehicle divisions under a unified leadership structure.
Veejay Nakra, the outgoing president of the automotive division, will take over as president of the farm equipment business — a cornerstone of the company’s profitability, with returns on capital employed exceeding 60 percent.
Nakra, who joined the company in 1995, is credited with reviving the automotive segment through successful product launches and an expanded international presence.
Bharat Puri
Previous: Managing director, Pidilite Industries
Present: Senior advisor and director, Pidilite Industries
Bharat Puri has assumed the role of senior advisor and director at the company. He will contribute to the company’s strategic direction in a part-time, advisory capacity.
Prior to Pidilite, Puri held global leadership roles at Mondelēz International and Asian Paints.
Campbell Wilson
Previous: Chairman, Air India Express
As per an internal memo sent by the company on April 22nd, Campbell Wilson who served as the chief executive officer of Air India, will be stepping down as the chairman of Air India Express, the airline’s low-cost subsidiary. He will be replaced by its chief commercial officer Nipun Aggarwal.
Further, it has been highlighted that Basil Kwauk, who is Air India’s chief operating officer, will replace Wilson on the board of Air Indian Express.
Himani Agrawal, Nitin Mittal and Aparna Kondaboina
Microsoft has appointed Himani Agrawal as chief operating officer (COO); Nitin Mittal as the industry leader, digital natives, India & South Asia; and Aparna Kondaboina as head – human resources.
Mittal has held leadership roles at Zee Entertainment, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), and was the founder of SOLV, a B2B platform for SMEs.
Agrawal has held key roles like chief of staff, country head for Azure and business applications building high-impact teams and driving scale.
Kondaboina previously worked at Microsoft India Development Centre (IDC).
Manohar Charan
Previous: Chief financial officer, ShareChat
Present: Co-founder & CFO, ShareChat
ShareChat has elevated Manohar Charan to co-founder. He has worked across Evalueserve, Datamonitor, RBS, PropTiger.com, Uber and Zomato.
Rakesh Ranjan
Previous: CEO – food delivery, Zomato
Rakesh Ranjan, the company’s chief executive officer of the food delivery business, will step down from his current role.
Ranjan will remain with the company in a different capacity, though Zomato’s founder and Chief Executive, Deepinder Goyal, is expected to assume his responsibilities in the interim, as per reports.
Ranjan began his career at Evalueserve before taking on roles at diamond management & technology consultants and PricewaterhouseCoopers. He later joined the Boston Consulting Group, where he rose to the position of project leader.
Akshaya Vasishth
Present: Chief marketing officer, Sujata Appliances
Sujata Appliances has appointed Akshaya Vasishth as CMO for its appliances division.
Vasishth’s responsibilities will include overseeing marketing for not only mixer-grinder range, but also the newly launched premium small domestic appliances including hand blenders, breakfast appliances and irons.
Prakash Magdum
Present: Managing director, NFDC
Prakash Magdum, who is a 1999 batch IIS (Indian Information Service) officer, has been appointed as the managing director of National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) for a period of five years.
Previously, Magdum served as the director of the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) in Pune. He has also worked with various government media units across states such as Assam and Kerala, and notably served as the Defence Spokesperson in Thiruvananthapuram, stated a media report.
Varun Mohan
Previous: Head of growth and revenue, India & SAARC, MiQ
Present: Chief commercial officer, MiQ
MiQ, a global programmatic media partner, announced the elevation of Varun Mohan to chief commercial officer (CCO) in India.
Mohan has almost 20 years of experience in digital media, including stints at Microsoft Advertising (Aidem Ventures), Republic TV etc.
Priyanka Khaneja Gandhi
Previous: Director – integrated brand experience lead, Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd
Present: Head – Amazon India Ads Marketing, Amazon
Amazon has named Priyanka Khaneja Gandhi as head – Amazon India ads marketing. She has worked across Enterprise Nexus, Starcom, Carat and Madison Communications.
Karan Bajwa and Avinash Dhagat
Honasa Consumer Limited has announced the appointment of Karan Bajwa, formerly senior vice president – human resources, as chief human resources officer (CHRO), and Avinash Dhagat, who served as senior vice president – supply chain, as chief supply chain officer (CSCO).
In his new role, Bajwa will lead the next phase of Honasa’s people strategy, focused on building a future-ready, high-performing organization anchored in diversity, inclusion, and meritocracy.
Dhagat’s focus will be on enhancing efficiency, driving sustainability, and ensuring the supply chain is well-equipped to respond to the dynamic needs of the evolving Indian FMCG landscape.
Kinji Saito
Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) announced that Kinji Saito has stepped down from his role as Non-Executive Director following the withdrawal of his nomination by parent company Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC).
The Board of Directors, in its meeting held earlier today, approved the appointment of Koichi Suzuki as the new non-executive director, effective April 26, 2025. His appointment fills the vacancy left by Saito’s departure.
Koichi Suzuki, a veteran at SMC, brings with him nearly four decades of experience. A graduate of Tokyo University’s Faculty of Letters, he joined SMC in 1987. He has previously served as executive officer of international marketing at Maruti Suzuki, overseeing Middle East and African markets. In April 2025, he was appointed as managing officer, executive general manager, India Operations.
Shalini Bhupal and Krishna R Bhupal
Taj GVK has announced the appointment of Shalini Bhupal as the managing director and chief executive officer for a period of five years.
Krishna R Bhupal has been appointed as the joint managing director of the company, also for a five-year term period.
Amrish Rau
Previous: Fintech Investments & Partnerships, Naspers
Present: Chairman and MD, Pine Labs
Pine Labs has named Amrish Rau as chairman and managing director. He has worked across Siemens Nixdorf, NCR Corporation, Teradata, First Data Corporation and Citrus Payment Solutions.
Sandip Basu
Previous: Managing partner and group chief financial officer, VerSe Innovation
Sandip Basu, who led VerSe Innovation, parent company of Dailyhunt, as managing partner and group chief financial officer, has stepped down from his position with reasons cited towards his health.
Basu, a qualified chartered accountant and cost accountant, began his career at Bharti Airtel as chief financial officer. Then, he joined Bpl Mobile Communication Limited as chief executive officer and group CFO. He led Xcel Telecom as CEO, and then worked at Loop Mobile India as CEO.
Compiled by Kashmeera Sambamurthy