Brands
Acko CMO Ashish Mishra to exit in July
The digital insurer’s marketing chief, who helped build the brand over nearly five years, is heading for the exit.
Ashish Mishra is stepping down as chief marketing officer of Acko, with his departure confirmed for July. He remains in the role for now, and an official announcement from the company is expected shortly.
Mishra joined the digital insurance start-up in August 2020, making him one of the longer-serving marketing chiefs in India’s fintech and insurtech space. Over nearly five years, he played a central role in building Acko’s brand presence in the country’s fiercely competitive digital insurance market. More recently, he was closely associated with Acko Life’s Unmixed brand philosophy, a proposition built around pure protection products stripped of the investment components that have long complicated traditional insurance offerings in India.
Before Acko, Mishra spent over a decade at HSBC in a series of marketing leadership roles spanning the Middle East, including regional marketing manager for credit cards and advance propositions, brand and media manager, and marketing manager for retail banking. Earlier in his career, he worked on the agency side, serving as senior brand service manager at Lowe Lintas and as executive for brand communications at DDB Mudra Group.
His exit leaves Acko with a sizeable gap to fill at a time when the brand is pushing deeper into life insurance and doubling down on its direct-to-consumer positioning. Whoever takes the seat next will inherit a brand that Mishra spent five years building from the ground up. That is not nothing.
Brands
Zydus Wellness expands Ritebite Max Protein into new formats
RTD shakes, ghee jaggery bars and Korean chips target $10–12 bn protein market.
MUMBAI: Protein is no longer just gym talk, it’s making a full-course entry into everyday India. Zydus Wellness Ltd. is stretching its Ritebite Max Protein portfolio across three new formats, signalling a sharper push to turn protein from a niche supplement into a daily habit. The expansion brings ready-to-drink (RTD) protein shakes, culturally rooted ghee jaggery bars, and Korean-inspired protein chips under one umbrella, an attempt to build what the company calls a “multi-format protein ecosystem”. The move targets India’s rapidly expanding protein market, currently estimated at $10–12 billion and growing at a mid-teen CAGR.
The numbers suggest the strategy already has legs. In Q3 FY26, Ritebite Max Protein posted near double-digit EBITDA margins following its acquisition, driven by distribution expansion, product innovation and broader category tailwinds.
At the centre of the rollout is convenience. The newly launched RTD shakes available in Choco Burst and Berry Blush deliver 26 grams of protein per 250 ml serving, designed for on-the-go consumption. Meanwhile, the “Roots” Ghee Jaggery Protein Bars blend traditional Indian ingredients with whey and casein, offering 10 grams of protein and 4 grams of fibre per serving.
But the play isn’t just about nostalgia. On the other end of the spectrum, Korean-flavoured protein chips featuring variants like Hot Chilli, Barbeque and Gochujang tap into global snacking trends. Each 60-gram serving delivers 10 grams of protein and 4 grams of fibre, alongside claims such as no palm oil and gluten-free formulation.
The broader insight is clear: the protein category is fragmenting along lifestyle lines. One cohort is leaning into familiarity and traditional formats, while another is chasing novelty and international flavours. Zydus is betting it can straddle both worlds.
With a nationwide rollout planned across e-commerce and quick-commerce platforms, the company is positioning Ritebite Max Protein not just as a product line, but as a day-long consumption habit, one shake, bar, or chip at a time.
