Grand jury

Janani is a seasoned marketer with 13+ years of experience in the industries of Automobile, Telecom, FMCG & FMCD.
She is currently heading marketing of Preethi brand at Versuni India. She is responsible for consumer, growth ,shopper, trade and service marketing for entire Preethi portfolio of Mixer Grinders, Gas Stoves, Wet Grinders, Chimneys, Cookers & Cookware and other kitchen appliances.
Prior to her role at Versuni, she was
• Heading category and digital commerce for ITC’s stationery division, leading a team of 3 brand and 2 digital marketing managers.
• Managing the brand portfolio of Classmate & Paperkraft notebooks, diaries and journals
• Leading the digitization efforts through setting up own commerce (D2C platform ‘Classmateshop’) and building service revenues (through a roadmap for a learning app ‘myclassmate’ and a school contact program ‘Classmate All Rounder’)
• Accelerating premiumization and innovation in the space of educational / learning aids
• Analysing strategic investments and forging partnerships in potential education services and Edtech start-ups from the perspective of inorganic growth through M&A
• Leading the drive for sustainability through setting up of carbon neutrality projects that democratize the offset of carbon footprint of the stationery business \
• Has led the incense sticks category for ITC’s FMCG business exponentially growing the revenues and brand equity of Mangaldeep incense & fragrances between 2017-2020 making it the no 1 brand by volume in India. She has also built and scaled the Mangaldeep devotional App to a subscriber base of 1 Mn+ users between 2017 – 2021.
Prior to ITC, she has been associated with marquee companies such as Mahindra Group where she had managed the company's two wheeler portfolio, launching and marketing novel motorcycles both in the commuter (100 CC) & performance segment(300 CC). As the Senior Product Manager in Vodafone, she has handled the rural and mass segment where-in she constructed content led Telco products for the farmer, women and rural youth. She has represented India in global cross - functional teams for inter-country pilots and learning and implementation of segment marketing principles.
She has pursued her MBA in International Business from IIFT (2009-11)
Awards & other achievements
As Women & Business Leader of ITC, she has been awarded outstanding contribution in marketing. She is in the prestigious list of IMPACT Marketing 40Under 40 2023 & 2024. She is a Jury board member & speaker for Brand Equity and Modern Marketing Association. She contributed to a GSMA Publication on women's mobile related safety. She received the Vodafone Star Award for speed and meticulous execution of mWomen program in India. She is an early leader certified by Centre of Creative Learning. She has been a Guest lecturer in NMIMS & is currently involved in teaching assignments as a visiting faculty in IIFT and conducts guest sessions in Management institutes like IIM Trichy & SPJIMR. She is also involved in curriculum creation and updation for marketing and digital transformation courses in MICA. She is co- authoring a Marketing case study on ‘Re-structuring brand portfolio basis consumer segmentation’ for global publications for academic purpose of teaching management students
She is an avid writer and has published opinion – based articles for Bestmediainfo, Financial Express and IIFT Alumni newsletters across various topics in marketing.
https://bestmediainfo.com/public/2020/07/
rural-and-small-towns-to-drive-the-fmcg-sector-over-the-next-nine-months-says-janani-kandaswamy-of-itc
https://www.financialexpress.com/business/brandwagon-bloggers-park-boon-or-bane-3227038/
As a Member of Board of Advisors for V-Excel Educational Trust, she has provided guidance on strengthening network and building visibility. She is a revenue, growth and marketing consultant to her Family’s entertainment business (South Indian Film production house). She has also begun to mentor startups in the consumer products and D2C space.
Apart from her passion in marketing and human insights, she is a fitness enthusiast with running (including marathons), aerobics, yoga, pilate, zumba, bolly – fit, strength & cross – training being her go to work-out routines. She is also an ardent reader and writer of both fiction & non – fiction across genres.