MAM
Orchard Advertising appoints Sameera Dowerah as creative director
MUMBAI: Orchard Advertising has appointed Sameera Dowerah as creative director.
She will partner Sagar Prajapati, also a creative director, in leading the creative function in Bangalore.
Orchard Bangalore vice president and branch head Anish Daryani said, “Sameera brings in the solidity we needed to strengthen our creative firepower. As a great thinker, expressive writer and exemplary leader, she‘s everything one would expect from a creative head. This is also in line with our strategic call to provide better creative output for our brands. I‘m confident our clients will be benefactors of her creative abilities.”
Dowerah said, “Orchard over the years has created a niche for itself. That smart, sensible, quiet yet witty kid in class? That‘s Orchard for me. Their work reflects this too. It‘s always been simple, yet smart and witty. Perhaps the reason why the communication they created is still remembered.”
Dowerah comes with 12 years of experience in the business and has worked on brands like Arrow, Reliance Jewels, the USL portfolio, Amante and Mantri Square. She spent her last seven years at Rediffusion-Y&R. Prior to Rediffusion-Y&R, she was with McCann Erickson, Bangalore where she worked on TVS Scooty, Scooty Pep, Kwality Walls and JTI.
Orchard Advertising is part of The Leo Group, which also includes Leo Burnett and Black Pencil. Some of the agency‘s clients include Wipro, SAB Miller, Essilor, Decathlon, Godrej, BlackBerry, WaterHealth India and Piramal Healthcare.
Brands
Kotak Mahindra Prime names Suraj Rajappan as managing director and chief executive
The car-finance arm of Kotak Mahindra Bank lines up a new chief and raises its borrowing limit
MUMBAI: Suraj Rajappan is getting the keys. Kotak Mahindra Prime Limited (KMPL), India’s veteran car-finance outfit, has named him managing director and chief executive, effective June 1st, 2026—the same day his predecessor drives off into retirement.
The board approved the appointment at its meeting on March 18th. Rajappan, currently a whole-time director at the company, has spent his entire 24-year career at KMPL, working across functions before rising to the top job. The three-year term remains subject to shareholder approval, and the company confirmed he faces no bar from SEBI or any other authority from holding the post.
He takes over from Shahrukh Todiwala, who superannuates on May 31st after more than three decades with the Kotak Group. Ashok Vaswani, managing director and chief executive of parent Kotak Mahindra Bank, was generous in his send-off. Todiwala, he said, “leaves behind a legacy marked by prudent growth, strong risk discipline, and a focus on customer-centricity.” Of his successor, Vaswani was equally bullish: Rajappan’s “deep industry experience and execution capabilities position KMPL well for its next phase of growth.”
The board also loosened the purse strings, raising the company’s overall outstanding debt limit from Rs 43,000 crore to Rs 48,000 crore. The expanded ceiling covers bank loans, debentures, commercial paper, treasury operations, credit facilities and external commercial borrowings.
KMPL has operated as a car-finance company since 1996, branching into two-wheeler loans in 2018 and loans against property in 2021. With fresh leadership, a bigger borrowing arsenal and an ambitious lender for a parent, Rajappan’s first task is clear: step on the accelerator.
