Celebrating Abhinav Iyer: A journey of building brands, trust and impact

Abhinav Iyer, Chief General Manager – Marketing & Strategy at The Muthoot Group, celebrates his birthday today, marking another milestone in a professional journey that has spanned banking, advertising, brand building and corporate strategy.

Over more than two decades, Iyer has built a career around understanding consumers, creating trust-led communication and connecting marketing closely with business objectives. From his early years in banking to his current leadership role at The Muthoot Group, his journey reflects a steady evolution from a regional marketer to a senior marketing and strategy leader.

Iyer began his career with Bank of Baroda, where his early assignments gave him exposure to the workings of a large financial institution and the complexities of marketing financial products to diverse consumer groups. He went on to work with the bank’s UK operations in London, where he was involved in building and leading marketing initiatives in an international market.

His professional journey also included a stint with London-based advertising agency Here and Now 365, where he worked as an Account Director and handled business across the BFSI space. The experience added an advertising and agency dimension to a career that had already been grounded in financial services.

A significant chapter began in 2014 when Iyer joined The Muthoot Group as Senior Chief Manager. Over the next 12 years, he steadily took on larger responsibilities across marketing and strategy, becoming closely associated with the evolution of the Group’s brand communication.

In May 2026, Iyer was elevated to Chief General Manager – Marketing & Strategy at The Muthoot Group, marking an important milestone in his long association with the organisation. The elevation expanded a mandate that has seen him work across brand strategy, integrated marketing, media investments and broader business priorities.

At Muthoot, Iyer has been part of efforts to make a legacy financial services brand relevant to a rapidly changing consumer landscape while retaining one of its strongest attributes — trust.

Campaign platforms such as ‘Bharosa India Ka’ have sought to reinforce Muthoot’s credentials around reliability, while ‘Sunheri Soch’ has built a narrative around the possibilities that gold can unlock for customers. Rather than positioning gold loans purely through a transactional lens, the communication has focused on aspiration, entrepreneurship, progress and real customer journeys.

The latest evolution of ‘Sunheri Soch’ has continued this approach, bringing customer stories together with digital, radio, AI-led storytelling and on-ground engagement. It reflects the larger transformation taking place in financial services marketing, where traditional brands are increasingly combining mass-media reach with digital and interactive consumer experiences.

Across his journey, Iyer has consistently worked at the intersection of marketing and business strategy. His experience across regional India, international banking, advertising and financial services has helped shape an approach where communication is expected to deliver not only visibility but also measurable business impact.

His career has also mirrored the changing role of the modern marketer. As digital platforms, data, technology and new consumer behaviours reshape brand building, marketing leadership today increasingly extends beyond campaigns into business strategy, customer experience and organisational growth.

For Iyer, the progression from Bank of Baroda and London’s advertising ecosystem to a senior leadership position at The Muthoot Group represents more than two decades of navigating those shifts.