Brands
Agilitas Sports acquires Virat Kohli’s One8
BENGALURU: Agilitas Sports, the manufacturing-to-retail sports platform founded by Abhishek Ganguly, has acquired one8, the sportswear brand co-created by Virat Kohli. As part of the deal, Kohli joins Agilitas as investor and co-founder of one8, strengthening a long-standing partnership centred on performance-led design and global ambition.
Agilitas, which spans manufacturing, R&D, brand-building and retail distribution, bolstered its capabilities last year with the acquisition of Mochiko Shoes, India’s largest sports-footwear maker. Bringing one8 under its fold gives the company a consumer-facing brand to anchor its expansion plans.
Kohli said the decision to move one8 to Agilitas stemmed from the group’s depth in manufacturing, design and nationwide distribution. “Movement, comfort and performance define everything for me, and that philosophy naturally shaped the brand,” he said. “What inspired me to bring one8 to Agilitas was the depth of its manufacturing, the strength of the people and Abhishek’s expertise.”
Ganguly said the collaboration builds on an ethos of discipline and ambition. “The one8 mindset is about taking risks, trying the unknown and never settling,” he said. “Together we are building a high-performance brand from India with the ambition to be globally meaningful over the next decade.”
In its next phase, one8 will expand into high-performance footwear, training apparel and sports-led lifestyle products, aiming to position itself as India’s first global sports brand built on athlete-first design and technical innovation.
Brands
Dunkin’ Donuts to exit India as Jubilant FoodWorks ends 15-year franchise deal
The quick service restaurant giant is ending a 15-year franchise partnership with the American doughnut chain, even as it renews its Domino’s agreement for another 15 years
NOIDA: Dunkin’ is done in India. Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, the country’s leading quick service restaurant operator, has decided not to renew its franchise agreement with the American coffee and doughnut chain, and will wind down its Indian stores in a phased manner before December 31, 2026, bringing a 15-year partnership to a quiet, loss-laden close.
The decision, approved by JFL’s board on March 30, 2026, ends a relationship that began with a Multiple Unit Development Franchise Agreement signed on February 24, 2011. JFL will now evaluate and undertake what it described in a regulatory filing as the “rationalisation and/or cessation of certain operations and/or sale, transfer or disposal of assets and/or assignment or transfer of franchise rights,” all in consultation with Dunkin’s brand owners and strictly within the terms of the original agreement.
The numbers tell the story bluntly. In the financial year 2024-25, Dunkin’ India posted a revenue of Rs 37 crore against a loss of Rs 19 crore — a haemorrhage that was always going to test the patience of a parent company recording revenues of Rs 6,104 crore and a profit of Rs 194 crore in the same period. Doughnuts, it turns out, were never going to move the needle.
The contrast with JFL’s handling of its other marquee franchise could hardly be sharper. Even as it walks away from Dunkin’, the company has just doubled down on Domino’s, signing a fresh Master Franchise Agreement on March 31, 2026, granting it exclusive rights to develop and operate Domino’s Pizza stores in India for 15 years, with an option to renew for a further 10.
JFL, incorporated in 1995 and promoted by the Bharatia family, operates a network of more than 3,500 stores across six markets — India, Turkey, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Its portfolio includes Domino’s and Popeyes on the global side, and two home-grown brands: Hong’s Kitchen and COFFY, a café brand in Turkey.
For Dunkin’, India was always a stretch. The brand never quite cracked the cultural code in a market where filter coffee and chai command fierce loyalty and where the doughnut remains, at best, an occasional indulgence rather than a daily habit. Fifteen years, mounting losses and a parent with better things to spend its capital on was always going to be a difficult equation to solve.
The doughnut has had its last day. The pizza, however, is staying.
