Niveda Vigraham moves to Times of India group as deputy manager, sport IPs

MUMBAI: Niveda Vigraham has taken to LinkedIn to announce her next move. The sports business professional has joined Bennett Coleman & Co., publisher of The Times of India, as deputy manager for sport IPs, betting that one of India’s most powerful media groups is the right place to build out a category she believes has barely scratched the surface of its potential.

The appointment was made possible by Utkarsh Rajwal and Sunil Kumaran, whom Vigraham credited for the opportunity. Sport IPs, a space that sits at the intersection of media, sponsorship and live experiences, is increasingly where serious money and ambition are flowing in Indian sports business, and Bennett Coleman’s muscle makes it a credible launchpad.

Vigraham arrives with her boots already dirty. She spent just over three years at Meraki Sport and Entertainment, a Mumbai-based sports and entertainment firm, where she rose from executive in product, revenue and strategy to group lead for partnerships, a role she held from April 2025 until May 2026. Before that, she logged time as a brand marketing assistant at Front Runner Sports and as an intern with global sports agency Wasserman, where she got her first taste of brands and properties. An earlier stint at TopHire.co as an associate in talent acquisition rounds out a career that has moved with purpose and pace.

She singled out Shantanu Ugrankar and the Meraki team for the grounding they gave her over those three years.

The sport IP business in India is young, scrappy and growing fast. Vigraham has picked exactly the right moment to go after it.