MAM
ProcMart appoints Sachin Jain as chief financial officer and chief strategy officer
Mumbai: ProcMart, an online B2B marketplace specialising in supply chain solutions announces the appointment of Sachin Jain as its new chief financial officer (CFO) and chief strategy officer (CSO). Sachin, a seasoned financial leader with a rich background in finance, strategic planning, and implementation, brings close to two decades of expertise to ProcMart. This appointment marks a significant milestone for ProcMart as it aims to further strengthen its financial framework and drive growth.
Sachin is a chartered accountant (CA), company secretary (CS), and cost & management accountant (CMA). He holds a Diploma in Advanced Management & Learning Program from Oxford University, London (OAMLP), showcasing his global perspective on management and leadership. Additionally, he has completed the Senior Leadership Program from IIM Ahmedabad.
Speaking on his appointment at ProcMart, Sachin Jain said, “With a robust pipeline of orders and new customer opportunities, ProcMart is at the cusp of embarking on an exciting phase of growth and financial health. I look forward to diligently executing on our strategic and financial priorities, and upholding our commitments to all investors. I am equally eager to lead the team towards heightened productivity and process excellence. This involves ensuring a consistent implementation of financial controls and structural efficiencies while leveraging technology for optimal business excellence.”
Commenting on Sachin’s appointment, ProcMart founder and CEO Anish Popli said, “Sachin’s extensive expertise in finance and strategic planning makes him an invaluable asset to our team. His role is pivotal in driving growth, enhancing our financial frameworks, and maximizing shareholder value. His tenure in previous roles has been distinguished by a steadfast commitment to excellence, strategic insight, and a knack for driving significant transformations, highlighting his extraordinary acumen as a financial leader. As he takes on the role of leading our Executive Team, we eagerly look forward to the expertise he will bring to the organisation.”
Prior to joining ProcMart, Sachin’s illustrious career includes significant roles, such as CFO at Mahle Anand Filter Systems, where he comprehensively managed finance, tax, and IT operations. As senior vice president of Finance at Anand Group, Sachin’s dedication to excellence, strategic foresight, and transformative leadership have been instrumental.
MAM
ASCI study uncovers how Gen Alpha navigates ads in endless digital feeds
‘What the Sigma?’ ethnographic report maps blurred boundaries between content and commerce for 7–15-year-olds.
MUMBAI: Gen Alpha isn’t scrolling through the internet, they’re living rent-free inside its never-ending dopamine drip, and the ads have already moved in next door. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) Academy, partnering with Futurebrands Consulting, has published ‘What the Sigma?’, an immersive ethnographic study that maps how Indian children aged 7–15 (Generation Alpha) consume, interpret and live alongside media and commercial messaging in a hyper-digital environment.
The research draws on in-home interviews, sibling and peer conversations, and discussions with parents, teachers, counsellors, psychologists, marketers and kidfluencers across six cities. It examines not only what children watch but how algorithms, content creators, peers and parents shape their relationship with the constant stream of shorts, vlogs, gameplay, memes, sponsored posts and ‘kid-ified’ adult material.
Five core themes emerged:
- Discontinuous Generation, Gen Alpha is not growing up alongside the internet, they are growing up inside it. Cultural references, humour, aesthetics and language sync globally in real time, often leaving adults functionally illiterate in their children’s world. A reference that lands instantly for a 10-year-old in Mumbai or Visakhapatnam feels opaque or disjointed to most parents.
- Authority Vacuum, Parents and teachers frequently lose cultural fluency in digital spaces. The algorithm responsive, inexhaustible and perfectly attuned to preferences becomes the most attentive presence in many children’s daily lives. Rules around screen time feel increasingly difficult to enforce when adults cannot fully see or understand the content landscape.
- Digital as Society, Online and offline no longer exist as separate realms, they form one continuous reality. The phone is not a tool children pick up; it is the primary social environment they inhabit.
- Great Media Mukbang, Content flows as an ambient, boundary-less, multi-sensorial stream. Entertainment, advertising, commerce, gameplay, memes and vlogs merge into one undifferentiated feed. The line between active choice and passive absorption has largely collapsed.
- Blurred Ad Recognition, Children aged 7–12 typically recognise only the most overt advertising formats. Influencer promotions, gaming integrations and vlog sponsorships often register as organic entertainment. Children aged 13–15 show greater ad literacy but remain highly susceptible to narrative-integrated, passion-driven and emotionally resonant brand messaging. Discernment remains low across the board in a non-stop stream.
ASCI CEO and secretary general Manisha Kapoor said, “ASCI Academy’s study is an investigation into the content life of Generation Alpha not to judge them but to understand them. Their cultural reference points seem disjointed from those of earlier generations. Insights on how they perceive advertising is the first step towards building more responsible engagement frameworks, given that they are the youngest media consumers in our country right now.”
Futurebrands Consulting founder and director Santosh Desai added, “While earlier generations have been exposed to digital media, for this generation it is the world they inhabit. This report explores not only what they watch but how they are being shaped by algorithms, content and advertising.”
The study proposes four adaptive, principles-led pathways:
- Universal signposting of commercial intent using design principles that make advertising recognisable even to young audiences.
- Ecosystem-wide responsibility shared among advertisers, platforms, creators, schools and parents.
- Future-ready safeguards built directly into children’s content experiences rather than as optional background settings.
- Formal media and advertising literacy embedded in school curricula to teach age-appropriate understanding of persuasion and commercial intent.
In a feed that never pauses, Gen Alpha isn’t merely watching content, they’re swimming in an ocean where entertainment, commerce and identity swirl together. The real question isn’t whether they can spot an ad; it’s whether the adults building the ocean can agree on where the lifeguards should stand.
