Brands
ABBY Awards 2026 names Akali, Tulsian, Chakravarty as jury chairs
The Ad Club taps top creative leaders as Goafest 2026 jury line-up takes shape
MUMBAI: The Ad Club has unveiled the jury chairs for the ABBY Awards 2026, powered by The One Club for Creativity and The One Show, bringing together a mix of seasoned creative leaders across key categories.
Praful Akali, founder and MD of Medulla Communications, will chair the Health category. Known for his strong track record in healthcare communications, Akali has picked up multiple global honours over the years, including wins at Cannes Lions Health, Clio and the Effies. His campaigns, such as Last Words and Last Laugh, have been recognised for blending creativity with measurable effectiveness.
In the Design category, Neha Tulsian, founder and executive creative director of NH1 Design, takes the helm. Tulsian brings a global perspective shaped by experience across London and India, along with stints on juries for D&AD, ADC Awards and Pentawards. Her work focuses on strategic branding that drives business outcomes, and her studio has earned multiple international accolades.
Meanwhile, Ashish Chakravarty, managing partner and chief creative officer at Garage Worldwide, will chair the Audio and Radio category. With over two decades in the industry, Chakravarty has amassed more than 500 awards globally and was recently ranked the top creative professional in India by Campaign Brief Asia.
The appointments come as preparations gather pace for Goafest 2026, where the ABBY Awards will be held from May 20 to 22 at Taj Cidade de Goa Horizon.
With a jury line-up that blends experience, global exposure and category expertise, this year’s ABBY Awards look set to raise the bar for creative excellence, while keeping a sharp eye on work that delivers both impact and effectiveness.
Brands
Reliance Retail FY26 revenue rises 11.8 Per Cent to Rs 3.7 lakh crore
Q4 revenue up 11.1 Per Cent, hyperlocal orders surge 4x, PAT steady
MUMBAI: Reliance Retail isn’t just ringing up sales, it’s ringing doorbells faster than ever. Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL) reported a steady FY26 performance, with growth powered by store expansion, a sharp surge in hyperlocal commerce, and consistent traction across grocery, fashion and jewellery. For the full year, revenue rose 11.8 per cent year-on-year to Rs 3,70,026 crore. In the January–March quarter, revenue from operations climbed 11.1 per cent to Rs 87,344 crore, up from Rs 78,622 crore a year earlier.
Operating performance remained stable, with Q4 EBITDA inching up 3.1 per cent YoY to Rs 6,921 crore from Rs 6,711 crore. However, quarterly profit after tax held steady at Rs 3,563 crore. For the full fiscal, PAT grew 11.7 per cent to Rs 13,842 crore.
Expansion remained a key lever. RRVL added 1,564 new stores during FY26, while simultaneously scaling its digital and hyperlocal commerce play. The latter emerged as a standout, with daily orders surging more than fourfold year-on-year in Q4, underlining a clear shift towards faster, localised fulfilment.
In grocery, large-format stores maintained momentum, aided by festive demand and the expansion of Smart Bazaar, which crossed 1,000 stores. Promotional campaigns such as ‘Full Paisa Vasool’ delivered record results, with sales rising 26 per cent YoY.
Digital commerce also picked up pace. JioMart added 5.8 million new users in Q4, nearly doubling its registered base year-on-year. Hyperlocal orders grew 29 per cent sequentially and over 300 per cent annually during the quarter.
Fashion and lifestyle saw steady traction. Ajio recorded a 23 per cent YoY rise in average bill value, while fast-fashion platform Shein crossed 11 million app installs, scaling rapidly with expanding product lines.
The jewellery business added further shine, with average bill value jumping 53 per cent YoY, largely driven by rising gold prices and sustained consumer demand.
Commenting on the shift, RRVL executive director Isha Ambani said hyperlocal commerce has become a structural growth driver, with orders rising more than fourfold over the year.
Looking ahead to FY27, the company is betting on technology to deepen engagement. The focus, Ambani noted, will be on AI-led merchandising, sharper pricing strategies and disciplined execution turning scale into sustained customer value.
In short, the carts are fuller, the clicks are quicker, and the next phase looks less about reach and more about precision.
