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‘Anandana’ – Coca-Cola India Foundation facilitates waste management initiative during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023
Mumbai: To drive the mission of supporting sustainability efforts as an integral part of all sporting events, The Coca-Cola India Foundation – ‘Anandana’, in partnership with the International Cricket Council (ICC) and United Way of Mumbai, has initiated and delivered a project focused on waste management during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.
The waste management initiative aligns with Coca-Cola’s global commitment to creating a World Without Waste. The foundation’s sustainable packaging platform aims to achieve ambitious targets: ensuring 100% global recyclability of packaging by 2025, utilising a minimum of 50% recycled material in packaging by 2030 (Design); committing to collecting and recycling a bottle or can for everyone sold by 2030 (Collect); and fostering community engagement to nurture a cleaner, debris-free environment (Partner).
Throughout the tournament, which is taking place between 5 October and 19 November, a workforce of more than 1000 volunteers, donning the safety jackets crafted from recycled PET bottles, has been deployed across the ten stadiums where the World Cup matches are taking place. These dedicated volunteers have been responsible for educating spectators on proper waste segregation, ensuring waste is correctly sorted into designated bins, and leaving the stadiums in an environmentally pristine condition – a testament to the commitment towards a greener future.
Coca-Cola India and Southwest Asia VP- public affairs, communications and sustainability Devyani Rajya Laxmi Rana said, “This ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, The Coca-Cola India Foundation – ‘Anandana’, is facilitating waste management at all the 48 matches being played across the 10 host cities, with the support of on-ground housekeeping volunteers. These volunteers are also donning safety jackets crafted from recycled PET bottles. In addition, we have also introduced national flags made with recycled PET during the national anthem ceremonies in collaboration with ICC. This initiative aligns with our global strategy called World Without Waste which drives systemic change through a circular economy for packaging.”
Coca-Cola India aims to recover about 200 metric tonnes of waste and it will be utilised to create benches which will be placed in the host cities.
International Cricket Council (ICC) head of events Chris Tetley said, “It is fantastic to be partnering with The Coca-Cola India Foundation and United Way of Mumbai as part of our commitment towards sustainability and reducing the impact of ICC events on the environment. Together, we are fostering community engagement, proper waste segregation, and the promotion of a cleaner, debris-free environment, that we hope will have an impact beyond the conclusion of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.”
United Way of Mumbai CEO George Aikara said, “The #MaidanSaaf initiative has been close to our heart. We support Coca-Cola to create a sustainable and positive impact on communities and livelihoods. We are working diligently to accelerate our waste recycling initiative, and through the latest drive, we want to stress the importance of waste recycling during the event. We are following our Collective Community Impact model, collaborating with multiple stakeholders, including the local government administration, civil society groups and the concerned vendors. Thus, the campaign can potentially make World Without Waste a collective mission for all.”
To ensure a sustainable sporting experience, Coca-Cola India, during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, launched #MaidaanSaaf. As part of this initiative, Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs) have been installed at various stadium touchpoints for our fans to responsibly dispose of their PET bottles. Coca-Cola India and ICC have also introduced National Flags and ICC Unity Flags made from post-consumer PET bottles. PET bottles were recycled by Go-Revise, a brand by Ganesha Ecosphere, to produce yarn, subsequently used for the flags. These flags are being used during the National Anthem Ceremony in each match.
Thums Up and Limca Sportz are the official beverage and sports drink partners for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup India 2023. Coca-Cola India is undertaking many activations during the World Cup, including online and offline fan and consumer engagements, to build awareness around waste management.
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Rakesh Menon joins Paytm as avp – lending
Fintech product leader takes on new role after building digital lending, payments and credit products across fintech ecosystem
MUMBAI: Rakesh Menon has joined Paytm as assistant vice president – lending, taking on a new role focused on strengthening the company’s lending and credit products.
Prior to this, Menon worked at Profectus Capital Pvt Ltd as chief manager – payments based financing and digital lending.
At Profectus, he designed and launched digital credit products for merchants with variable cash flows, including overdraft-linked and revenue-share lending models. He led end-to-end LOS–LMS API integrations with payment partners and aggregators, enabling real-time underwriting, disbursal and repayment workflows.
He also worked on funnel optimisation initiatives using journey analytics, improving onboarding, KYC and disbursal conversion by 35 per cent. He developed ecosystem partnerships for transaction-data-based credit assessment and automated settlement systems, and collaborated with credit and data science teams to strengthen risk models and early delinquency detection.
Menon standardised partner onboarding and API frameworks, reducing go-live timelines by 40 per cent and improving digital scalability.
Before Profectus Capital, he worked at PayU as senior manager – presales lead – enterprise business from August 2022 to August 2023. He set up a national presales function for fintech and digital commerce clients, aligning solutions such as EMI, BNPL, BBPS and offer engines to merchant requirements.
He also helped improve conversion rates by around 15 per cent through merchant persona mapping, demo frameworks and structured sales playbooks, working closely with product and go-to-market teams.
From April 2019 to July 2022, Menon served as business unit head – SMB – direct acquisitions at Worldline, where he built the SMB online payments vertical from scratch. The business scaled to Rs 2,500 crore in annual transaction volume, growing at 45 per cent year-on-year.
During this period, he introduced paperless onboarding processes including eKYC and eSign, developed partner dashboards and CRM automation systems, and integrated platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce and Tally to expand merchant adoption.
Across roles, Menon has worked across digital lending, payments and merchant financing, with experience in product development, ecosystem partnerships, API integrations and fintech-led growth strategies.
At Paytm, he will focus on scaling lending products and strengthening digital credit infrastructure within the company’s financial services ecosystem.
His appointment comes as fintech firms continue to expand their lending and embedded finance offerings in a competitive market.
