MAM
Devyani Rajya Laxmi Rana joins Coca-Cola India’s leadership team
New Delhi: Coca-Cola on Thursday strengthened its leadership team and appointed Devyani Rajya Laxmi Rana, as vice president Public Affairs, Communications, and Sustainability for India and Southwest Asia.
Formerly, Devyani was director of Public Affairs for India, Nepal, Bhutan for Caterpillar India, leading Caterpillar and its subsidiaries’ work in government/corporate affairs, public relations and communications, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability for the region. Before that, she led portfolios with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and United Nations (UN) in India, as well as The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, Geneva, Switzerland World Economic Forum (WEF).
She has over 25 years of work experience in government and corporate affairs, strategic business advocacy, risk management, communications, CSR, and sustainability.
Coca-Cola, president, India, and Southwest Asia, Sanket Ray said, “I am delighted to welcome Devyani on this exciting charter to deepen Coca-Cola’s engagement in the region as she joins the leadership team to spearhead the practice in the region. Devyani brings a wealth of experience in advocating for policies, legislation, trade agreements, and regulations. Her contributions will augment our belief in our purpose even stronger and serve as an acceleration of the work that was already underway.”
Devyani has successfully developed effective strategies focused on maximizing impact in the region on infrastructure, environmental, social and governance, and trade, resulting in business profitability, increased footprint, and expanded manufacturing operations for domestic and export markets, said the company in a statement. Apart from that, she has also led advocacy, internal, external, and brand communications initiatives that have delivered positive business outcomes and contributed to the engagement of the organizations and teams she served.
An alumnus of London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), London, Devyani holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science from Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur in Nepal and a Bachelor of Arts, (Hons.) in Political Science from Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India.
Brands
Google nears Nvidia in race for world’s most valuable company
Market cap gap narrows as Google hits $4.65 trillion, Nvidia at $4.86 trillion.
MUMBAI: In the AI gold rush, even the giants are sprinting and Google is suddenly gaining ground. Google is rapidly closing in on Nvidia in the race to become the world’s most valuable publicly listed company, with the gap between the two narrowing sharply amid diverging stock momentum. The tech giant’s market capitalisation has surged to around $4.65 trillion, following a more than 140 per cent rise in its share price over the past year.
That rally has added over $2.6 trillion in value in just 12 months, including nearly $900 billion since January alone. Its stock recently hovered at $381.80, slipping marginally by 0.04 per cent, but still reflecting strong upward momentum.
Nvidia, meanwhile, continues to hold the top spot with a valuation of approximately $4.86 trillion. The chipmaker crossed the $5 trillion milestone in October last year and peaked at $5.27 trillion on 27 April. However, its shares have largely plateaued over the past six months, rising just 0.2 per cent recently to $199.99.
The contrast in trajectories is striking. While Nvidia has seen relatively flat movement, Google has gained over 36 per cent in the same six-month period. Barron’s estimates suggest that if current trends hold, the valuation gap could shrink to as little as $190 million by the time Nvidia reports its first-quarter earnings on 20 May.
Daily momentum paints a similar picture. Nvidia recorded average daily gains of about 0.66 per cent last month, compared to Google’s stronger 1.42 per cent, an edge that could prove decisive in the short term.
Driving Google’s resurgence is its aggressive push into artificial intelligence across its ecosystem, from search and YouTube to cloud computing. The company has already invested $144 billion in capital expenditure over the past two years and plans to deploy a further $490 billion over the next two.
Its cloud division is also gathering pace. Google Cloud reported an order backlog of nearly $220 billion in the latest quarter, with total backlog touching a record $462 billion, around half of which is expected to be realised within two years. The company’s entry into chip sales is also beginning to factor into its growth narrative.
The last time Google briefly topped the S&P 500 by market value was in February 2016, when it edged past Apple for just two days. This time, the stakes and the numbers are far higher.
At the heart of the contest lies a single force: artificial intelligence. As both companies pour billions into infrastructure, chips and platforms, the leaderboard is no longer just about size, it is about who can scale the future faster.
