Credit Fair, a consumer lending fin-tech start-up, has appointed Vikas Agarwal as its Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer (CBO). In this new role, he will lead the Supply of Capital initiatives including partnerships with Co-lending and Independent Financial Advisors (IFAs).  In addition, he will also lead strategic alliances (fintech) and merchant relationship developments to accelerate the business growth for Credit Fair.  Vikas will be closely working with Aditya Damani, Founder and CEO, Credit Fair. 

Before joining Credit Fair, Vikas founded a SME-focused NBFC, SSA Finserv in 2019 and served as MD & CEO. He also founded Shree Krishna Corporate Advisors LLP in 2010, where he advised over 300 SMEs on raising debt worth over Rs. 500 crs. A chartered accountant from ICAI, Agarwal started his career in 2009 with Ernst & Young (EY), India. 

Vikas brings to the table over a decade of experience in the financial services sector, especially in business development, debt raise, project finance, working capital finance and advisory to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME). 

Welcoming Vikas, Aditya Damani, Founder and CEO, Credit Fair said, “Vikas is joining us at an exciting phase of our journey, as we are witnessing a huge demand uptick for credit both at the business and consumer levels. With a proven combination of strategic thinking and strong execution capacity, he will help Credit Fair continue to deliver value to its customers and all the key stakeholders. He will be responsible for driving the operational excellence of the company, thus helping in achieving our mission of enabling Fair Finance for Every Indian!” 

Commenting on his appointment, Vikas Agarwal, Cofounder and CBO, Credit Fair said, “I am excited to join Credit Fair and look forward to playing my role in effectively scaling up our credit delivery ecosystem across the country. I believe that the company is making a significant difference in the lives of individuals and small businesses by providing fair and accessible credit.  I look forward to working with the team to introduce new-age innovations in financing and capture emerging opportunities such as green financing.”

Senior journalist Sreenivasan Jain has announced his decision to move on from NDTV after close to three decades with the institution. The channel's Group Editor said that he will be stepping down through a Tweet earlier today: "Hi all. An amazing, nearly three-decade-long run at NDTV comes to an end today. The decision to resign wasn’t easy, but .. it is what it is. More later."

Jain has been working with NDTV since 1995. He anchors the weekly show Truth vs Hype on NDV 24x7. He was the network's Mumbai bureau chief from 2003-2008 and was briefly the Managing Editor of NDTV's business channel Profit. He has also authored op-ed columns for the Business Standard. He has not announced what his next career move will be.

Jain's tweet was followed by reactions by industry peers:

A big loss for the channel, All the best Vasu!

— Suhasini Haidar (@suhasinih) January 28, 2023

तुम्हारा जान एक युग के अंत जैसा है मेरी जान❤️ कितना कितना शानदार काम किया यार वासु तुमने ..वो सब मिस किया जाएगा। मुझे एक ही अफ़सोस है कि जितना तुमने NDTV के लिए किया, उतना वापस नहीं मिला ..पर क्या ज़बर्दस्त पारी रही यार .. तुम्हारी नई इनिंग और धमाकेदार होगी .. लव यू ❤️

— Vinod Kapri (@vinodkapri) January 28, 2023

Best of luck Sreenivasan. One of the sanest and professional voices on Indian TV- you will be missed deeply by all those who value good journalism.

— Rohini Singh (@rohini_sgh) January 28, 2023

All the best Vasu...

— Abhisar Sharma (@abhisar_sharma) January 28, 2023

All the best, Vasu!

— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) January 28, 2023

Best wishes Vasu sir.

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) January 28, 2023

Best wishes to you. Will miss your work on NDTV.

— Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran) January 28, 2023

Jain's exit comes close on the heels of NDTV's acquisition by the Adani Group. Back in November 2022, Ravish Kumar, Senior Executive Editor of NDTV India, also stepped down. NDTV Founders Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy have also divested most of their shares in NDTV to Gautam Adani's AMG Media Network, which is the single-largest shareholder in NDTV. 

Škoda Auto India's Head of Marketing Tarun Jha and Head of Sales (India) Ajay Raghuvanshi have reportedly moved on from the Czech auto company.

News reports say that Jha will be in office till February 17 and Raghuvanshi till March end of this year.

Reports also say that the company has communicated the news of the top executives' exits to its dealer partners.

Jha, who joined the company as DGM of Marketing, has been with Škoda since 2008. Raghuvanshi has previously worked for automakers like Nissan, Hyundai and Honda and joined the company in 2019.

This come at a time when Škoda has been seeing a series of top-level exits. The company reportedly posted its highest-ever sales in the calendar year 2022 and had also appointed a new brand director Petr Šolc. He took over from Zac Hollis who moved on to German carmaker Volkswagen.

CEO of Radio Mirchi Prashant Pandey has moved on. He will be joining the venture capital space, he shared.

Sharing the news, Pandey said, “And it’s a wrap! After 23 years, I’m leaving Mirchi….the most exciting brand and company in the World! I can’t thank my lovely team enough-and all who have worked here since the beginning. We’ve together created this awesomeness! I am eternally grateful to the visionary Vineet Jain and to my mentor and first boss Amba Preetham Parigi! Without them, none of this magic would have happened! I’m joining the venture capital space in a small way. I’m sure our paths will cross again.”

e4m had reported the development in October 2022. Then, ENIL had announced that Pandey will retire soon and Yatish Mehrishi will be joining the company back as the new CEO. Pandey will however continue as Managing Director.

“I would thank Prashant for his invaluable contributions to the company and building Brand Mirchi into a power brand over the last 22 years,” Vineet Jain Chairman of ENIL hasd said in a statement then.

Haldiram's recently appointed Harshit Gupta as Deputy Manager – Digital Marketing to further strengthen its digital team. Reporting directly to Divya Batra, Head of Marketing, Harshit will be in charge of digital activities and carving the larger brand story across digital.

Harshit comes with over 7 years of work experience in the advertising industry and previously worked with RepIndia, an independent digital agency from Delhi, as Account Director – Client Strategy. He was responsible for Digital Strategy planning, Content & Influencer Management, and Audience Outreach for award-winning campaigns for various brands. In his past work experience, he has worked with reputed brands like Sleepwell, Kajaria, Canon, Amazon MiniTV, and various others from different industries.
On joining Haldiram’s, Harshit commented, “I am excited to join the brand. I am glad to bring a fresh digital perspective to the heritage brand. In my new role, I look forward to moving the needle by creating data-driven and insightful strategies that will help us drive sales and consumer engagement.”

Regarding Harshit’s appointment, Divya Batra, Head of Marketing at Haldiram’s, said, “We are delighted to welcome Harshit to Haldiram’s family. The company focuses on expanding its digital footprint in India and has appointed Harshit to do the same. He has diverse experience in leading Digital Strategy with consumer trends & insights and has rich experience in digital activations and audience outreach programs. We are confident that his expertise in Digital Innovation and vast knowledge of brand building through content & influencer management will help us to take Haldiram’s to newer heights and reach newer audiences.”

CMS IT Services announced today that its Board of Directors has appointed Sanjeev Singh as Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director of the company effective 16 January 2023.

 Commenting on the appointment of  Sanjeev Singh, Mathew Cyriac, Chairman of the Board said, “We are excited to welcome Sanjeev as the CEO & MD of CMS IT Services. Sanjeev has an exceptional leadership track record, strong exposure to Indian and Global markets, deep strategic expertise, a unique ability to forge long standing client relationships, and proven track record of driving transformation and turning around underperforming businesses. We believe that Sanjeev is the right person to lead CMS IT in its next phase of growth.” 

Commenting on his appointment, Sanjeev Singh said, “I’m honoured to be invited to lead CMS IT Services, an extraordinary company with deep technology heritage built on strong foundation of values. I look forward to working closely with Mathew, the Board, senior leadership and the highly talented employees of CMS IT to enter a new phase of growth and build a better tomorrow for all our stakeholders, including customers and employees.” 

Sanjeev will be based in Bangalore. Sanjeev joins CMS IT Services from Wipro Limited where he was Chief Operations Officer and a member of Wipro Executive Board. Till recently, he was a Member of CII Karnataka Council & Chairman of CII Karnataka CEO Forum. Before joining Wipro, Sanjeev was the CEO at Aegis Ltd for its India & Sri Lanka businesses, and did senior leadership stints at Mphasis and Genpact. 

Sanjeev is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) and Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIM-K), where he was awarded the Gold Medal for academic excellence. He was recently awarded with the Distinguished Alumnus Award by his alma mater IIM-Kozhikode.

Ipsos India has announced leadership changes in Marketing Communications and Operations.

Pallavi Mathur Lal, Senior Director Client Organization, takes up the role of Senior Director, Content and Communications. Madhurima Bhatia from Marketing and Communications Lead now moves to Media Engagement and Partnerships for Ipsos India, with the additional role of media engagement for the Asia Pacific region (excluding Greater China).

Both Bhatia and Mathur will report to Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India.

“Ipsos India has aggressive growth plans charted for the next 3 years, and these senior appointments in both Marketing and Operations will further elevate the status of Ipsos in India providing greater visibility and continue to transform our Operation business,” says Adarkar.