Grand Jury
Jury
Anuj Arora
Chief Marketing Officer , Bajaj Auto
With over 18 years of experience in diverse industries such as FMCG, Retail, Stationery, CPG, and FMCD/FMEG, I am a business-first marketing professional who combines strategic vision, analytical skills, and creative flair to deliver value to the customers and the organization. I hold PGDM from IIM-Ahmedabad, BTech from Kurukshetra University, and executive education certificates in Design Thinking and IoT from MIT Sloan.
As the Chief Marketing Officer at Symphony Limited, I am part of the senior leadership team responsible for driving the business to a new phase of growth and expansion. I handle the global brand strategy and management, portfolio management, NPD and innovation pipeline, and GTM for new product segments. Under my guidance, we are improving our market share and entering new segments, while leveraging the latest technologies and consumer insights. My values are curiosity, integrity, changing the status quo, and being a first mover in technology. My aspiration is to be a business leader who delivers great value to the CPG industry and the society.
Binda Dey
Group CMO , KKR
Binda Dey, Group CMO, Knight Rider Sports, with 20+ years of experience, specializes in strategic partnerships and sports marketing. Her leadership has earned her numerous accolades, making her a prominent figure in sports and content marketing.
Darshana Shah
Chief Marketing Officer , Aditya Birla Health Insurance
Darshana brings over 26 years of expertise in driving marketing strategy and brand loyalty, with a strong focus on gender inclusion and empathetic leadership.
Darshana joined the Aditya Birla Group as the founding member and marketing head of Aditya Birla Health Insurance, bringing her strong experience of building digital products and an omnichannel customer experience. Prior to that, Darshana has led marketing initiatives at Indian retail giants for several years, after starting out as one of the few women within her sales team.
Darshana now heads marketing and customer experience for Aditya Birla Capital, the financial services business of Aditya Birla Group; and writes about leadership, marketing and equality on LinkedIn. Darshana is a Senior Executive Leadership Program graduate from Harvard Business School.
Deepika Warrier
Chief Marketing Officer , Bajaj Auto
Deepika Warrier is the Chief Marketing Officer at Bajaj Auto Ltd. She is the brand steward for the corporate brand (Bajaj Auto – The World’s Favourite Indian) as well as global and local brands such as Bajaj Pulsar, Chetak Electric scooter, the iconic Bajaj three-wheeler portfolio and partnership brands such as Triumph and KTM/ Husqvarna premium bikes.
Deepika has a career spanning more than 30 years of emerging markets FMCG experience with more than a decade of CXO experience in India and across Asian markets.
Prior to her current role, Deepika served as Chief Marketing Officer for Diageo (USL) India between July 2020 and July 2023. She led marketing and innovation across a portfolio of beverage alcohol brands, including Johnny Walker, McDowell’s No. 1, Baileys, Smirnoff, Royal Challenge, Smirnoff, Tanqueray, and Singleton. Prior to Diageo, Deepika spent 20 years in PepsiCo, in her last stint at PepsiCo, Deepika was CEO and MD of Nourishco Beverages (formerly a 50-50 JV between PepsiCo India and Tata Global Beverages).
Deepika is known as a consumer-centric and transformational marketer, brand builder, and commercial leader who has driven double-digit top-line growth and equity and shared gains via winning holistic consumer work. Prior to PepsiCo, Deepika worked in companies such as Gillette India, Ogilvy Mather, and Britannia Industries.
Deepika is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, and holds an honors degree from Lady Shriram College, Delhi University.
Elizabeth Venkataraman
Executive Director & Head of Marketing , Shriram Finance Limited
Elizabeth Venkatraman has joined Shriram Finance as Executive Director & Head of Marketing as of February 2024. Prior to Joining Shriram Elizabeth was heading the marketing function at Kotak Mahindra Bank which included consumer, commercial, wholesale and Private Bank at Kotak Mahindra Bank. She also led the marketing alliances function and was building the loyalty platform for the bank. In her past role, she was responsible for driving Kotak’s strategic direction and contributing to business growth. She led the team that anchored the launch of Kotak 811 - India’s first downloadable digital bank account. The multi award winning Kotak 811campaigns – #IndiaInvited, #DreamsInvited and Video KYC and the very successful Home Loan Campaign and more recently Activ Money Canpaigns are a testimony to her strength of spearheading campaigns that build strong marketing efficacy.
Elizabeth is also driven by her passion to empower women by becoming financially independent, and one of the key marketing initiatives that she drove and which was close to her heart was Kotak Silk, a banking programme exclusively for women. Her love for innovation was represented by her pioneering initiative of taking art off the wall and into the customer’s wallet. She launched the special edition series of debit cards where renowned Indian artists such as Paresh Maity and Seema Kohli made a 2” x 3” debit card their canvas. Elizabeth joined the Kotak Mahindra Group in 2004. Over the last 20 years, she had worked with a number of businesses including Wealth Management, Securities, International, Life Insurance and General Insurance. At Kotak Life Insurance, she delivered a significant brand promise project along with a very successful campaign ‘Sau Saal Jiyo’, which was rated #1 by Brand Equity. It delivered a 4-point jump in spontaneous awareness and was one of the best product launches by Kotak Life Insurance in terms of sales. Elizabeth is a graduate in Commerce from Jyoti Nivas College, Bengaluru and an MBA (Marketing) from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai.
Girish J Kalra
CMO , Tata AIA Life Insurance
Girish J Kalra heads the Marketing & Corporate Communication functions at Tata AIA. He has an experience of over 20 years, having worked with firms across Consumer Goods, Mutual Funds, Non-Life & Life Insurance sectors. He is an Engineering Graduate and has specialized in Marketing as part of his MBA program.
He has been a Speaker and Jury Member at various Marketing & Communication related forums across domestic and international platforms. He is a Tech Enthusiast, experimenting with gadgets and Gen AI. He is an avid Traveler and Nature lover.
Gunjit Jain
CMO , Colgate-Palmolive (India)
Limited
Over his 15-year tenure at Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited, Gunjit Jain has demonstrated unwavering commitment and leadership in marketing. Joining in 2008, Mr. Jain has taken on progressively significant roles in customer development, marketing, innovation, strategy, and leadership. His global experience spans the United States, South-East Asia, Taiwan, and India, providing him with a comprehensive understanding of diverse markets and consumer behaviours. As Vice-President of Marketing since February 2023, Mr. Jain has overseen categories like Oral Care, Personal Care, and Home Care, bringing cross-functional expertise to his role.
Mr. Jain's leadership has been instrumental in enhancing consumer and category knowledge, strengthening product superiority, and executing compelling advertising campaigns. Under his guidance, Colgate-Palmolive India has seen robust revenue growth and improved brand health. Mr. Jain holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) in Delhi and a bachelor's degree in computer science & engineering from the Vellore Institute of Technology. His commitment to continuous learning and professional development is evident in his academic achievements.
Mr. Jain exemplifies visionary leadership, driving transformative initiatives and fostering a culture of innovation and excellence. His dedication to advancing Colgate-Palmolive India’s strategic objectives positions the company for continued success in the dynamic consumer goods landscape.
Jaswinder Sodhi
Head of Customer Propositions Digital & Marketing - Wealth & Personal Banking India , HSBC
Jaswinder Singh Sodhi is an experienced CMO/ Digital Native & Consumer banking professional with a career spanning over 23 years in Financial services. Jaswinder has worked with a mix of Indian and MNC companies during his career including ICICI Bank, Fidelity Funds Network Pvt Ltd, DBS Bank India & Jio Financial Services. He has a rich digital and customers experience and has launched couple of digital banks – Digibank by DBS in 2016 and Jio Payments Bank in 2019 in India.
Jaswinder is the Chief Marketing Officer for HSBC - Wealth & Personal Banking India and is also the custodian of brand HSBC in India. Apart from this he also heads the Customer Strategy and Digital function for the retail bank.
Key Achievements
Under Jaswinder’s leadership brand HSBC has gained tremendous visibility and strength with visible improvement in brand power
scores and customer recommendation index. Signing of iconic Virat Kohli as the brand influencer, winning at SHARK Brand Equity
awards, jury at Effies 2022 final round and being chosen as the CMO of the year for social responsibility at Laqshya PITCH CMO
awards have been some of his notable achievements in recent times.
Jaswinder is a strong believer in the power of story telling through brand and has created a series of long term IPs for HSBC with strategic brand partnerships. He is a strong proponent of sustainability led initiatives and the constructive rôle marketing plays in connecting with its customers on the subject.
Rohit Talwar
Vice President and Head of Marketing India and South Asia , Castrol India
Rohit joined one of India’s first EdTech companies in the year 2000 and that set the stage for an enriching journey in marketing, which he defines as exciting consumers, enriching customers and delivering business growth.
Rohit has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and an M.B.A. at ISB, India’s top business school, which give him a deep appreciation for both the science and art of marketing.
Over the last 20 years he has worked across local, global and expat assignments in Castrol, building multi-cultural teams that have challenged the status quo and delivered strong results.
Rohit is deeply passionate about creativity and taking the brand into new areas to engage consumers and customers in a meaningful way that makes a positive impact on the communities he operates in. He actively participates in industry forums, serves on multiple global and regional marketing award juries and is a prominent voice on marketing in the country.
As Head of Marketing for Castrol in India, he is a member of the Castrol India leadership team and is currently responsible for nurturing the brand in both core and new categories. Prior to this he was Marketing Director for Castrol in Vietnam where he made a significant contribution to the Castrol brand in APAC.
Rohit is a dedicated family man and a sports enthusiast, spending his time at the beach with his son and wife or playing tennis when he takes time off from work.