MAM
Aditya Birla’s initiative Liva Protégé enables aspiring students to make a mark in the fashion industry
India’s premiere fashion competition is back with its third season in association with Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), this time with more fluid fashion and fluid imagination. The nationwide talent hunt gave a chance to 3000+ young designers from 100+ institutes across the country to showcase their talent with guidance from India’s best design mentors.
After three successful seasons, Liva Protégé is larger than ever this year as they have associated with the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) to promote young designers at India Fashion Week, 2019.The winners of Liva Protégé will receive an award of INR 2 Lac, INR 1 Lac and INR 50K, respectively.
The Liva Protégé platform was conceived with an objective of giving young designers a platform and exposes them to the global platforms like India Fashion Week so that they are future ready.
India’s top fashion institutes like NIFT, Pearl Academy, NID etc participated in the event. Top 12 candidates were shortlisted from 6 zones based on their concept and interpretation, research, design skills, commercial awareness, garment construction and finish as well as the Liva Fluid Magic. The candidates were then nurtured and mentored by known fashion designers Aarti Vijay Gupta (Mumbai), Ujjwal Shah Noya (Ahmedabad), Samant Chauhan (Delhi), Rimi Nayak (Kolkata), Althea Krishna (Hyderabad) and Raj Shroff (Bangalore).
“Innovative designs that have the potential to turn headspropel the designers to fashion stardom and take them ahead of their peers are the winning parameters for me” says jury member Shalini Passi.
The young designers created a collection of evening gowns with Liva Fabric which was showcased at FDCI’s India Fashion Week and judged by the eminent jury which included Shalini Passi, JJ Valaya and Suneer Verma.
“Liva Protégé aims at recognizing and nurturing young talent, which has made it one of the most prestigious fashion competitions in the country. We, as a company, thrive on newer ideas, fresher concepts and believe in leading and revolutionizing the industry withinnovative products like Liva and LivaEco” said Mr. Manohar Samuel, President Marketing & Business Development, Birla Cellulose.
“After successful launch 2015, we are proud to introduce Liva Protégé '19 in association with FDCI, this unique platform attracts the best of budding fashion designers across India to showcase their creativity and make an indelible mark on the fashion circuit in India” says Sunil Sethi, President FDCI. “Powered by Liva – a new-age fabric designed to infuse incredible fluidity into garments, from the house of Grasim Industries Ltd., Liva Protégé aims to tap into the great Indian talent pool and ensure that promising fashion designers in India get their rightful place under the sun, and help India keep shining across the global fashion landscape” adds Sethi.
The winner of the event was Tista Roy from NID, Ahemdabad. The first runner up was Aditi Vij from Pearl Academy, Delhi and the second runner up was Nishigandha Khaladkar from NID, Ahemdabad.
Nishtha Sethi from Pearl Academy, Delhi won the award for Most Innovative Design.
Brands
Boeing appoints Barun as head of FP&A for global engineering function
Seasoned finance leader to steer budgets and strategy across global centres
BENGALURU: Boeing’s finance cockpit has a new pilot, and he is no stranger to turbulence or transformation. Boeing has appointed Barun as head of FP&A for global engineering, placing him at the centre of financial strategy for its worldwide engineering and technology operations.
Based in Bengaluru, Barun steps into a role that is as expansive as it is critical. He will serve as the primary finance lead for Boeing’s Engineering and Technology Centers globally, working closely with executive leadership to shape financial decisions, manage complex budgets, and design scalable finance processes that support the company’s growing engineering footprint.
In a note announcing his move Barun said, “I’m excited to share that I’ve joined Boeing Global Engineering. This opportunity is incredibly meaningful to me not just from a professional standpoint, but also for what Boeing represents globally.” He added that he looks forward to contributing to an organisation that continues to shape the future of aerospace and innovation.
Barun’s mandate spans strategic financial leadership, operational oversight, and stakeholder engagement. From directing large-scale budgets and schedules to influencing long-term organisational goals, the role blends financial discipline with business foresight. He will also lead cross-functional teams and partner with finance colleagues worldwide to support engineering programmes across geographies, including India.
The appointment caps a long stint at Juniper Networks, where Barun spent over a decade, most recently as finance senior manager. There, he led FP&A for global product business units and G&A functions, driving budgeting, forecasting, and long-range planning. He also played a key role in enterprise-wide transformation, including spearheading an Oracle to SAP ERP migration and building advanced analytics capabilities using tools such as Tableau and SAP Analytics Cloud.
His earlier career includes finance leadership roles at Sony India Software Centre, Cognizant Technology Solutions, and Mphasis, where he focused on financial planning, governance frameworks, and operational efficiency across global delivery centres.
A chartered accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Barun brings nearly two decades of experience across financial planning, digital transformation, and analytics-led decision making.
His appointment comes at a time when global engineering operations are becoming increasingly complex and distributed, requiring sharper financial oversight and agile planning. With Barun at the helm of FP&A for engineering, Boeing appears to be tightening its financial playbook as it looks to scale innovation with discipline.
