Brands
Asli sona shines as Sonakshi strikes gold with Instamart this Diwali
MUMBAI: When life gives you a golden spoon, you star in an Instamart ad. This Dhanteras, Swiggy Instamart is back to strike gold literally with Asli Sona herself, Sonakshi Sinha, headlining its cheeky festive campaign that promises everything from Soan Papdi to actual sona delivered to your doorstep in just 10 minutes.
After last year’s nostalgic tribute to Karisma Kapoor’s Sona Kitna Sona Hai, Instamart doubles down on its golden pun game, rolling out a playful new film conceptualised in-house. The ad reimagines the phrase “born with a silver (or golden) spoon” in the most literal and hilarious way possible.
The campaign traces Sonakshi’s journey from an ultrasound where her golden spoon first makes an appearance, to her childhood on the playground and even a dramatic adult avatar where the same spoon deflects a bullet in a Versailles-like setting. The gleaming prop, much like its owner, steals the show ending with the tongue-in-cheek line: “Sona ka sona toh by birth sorted hai. Aap apna dekh lo?” reminding viewers that their own gold needs are just a tap away.
“Who doesn’t love a good pun and a great deal?” quips Swiggy head of brand marketing Mayur Hola. “After the iconic Sona Kitna Sona Hai campaign last Diwali, we’re back to remind everyone that asli sona is available on Instamart. And who better to do it than Sonakshi Sinha? From Soan Papdi to sona (gold), whatever you need, get it on Instamart in minutes.”
And it’s not all sparkle without substance, Instamart’s golden streak is backed by numbers. Last Diwali, a single user in Kochi purchased gold worth Rs 8.3 lakh through the platform, signalling how festive indulgence is now just a few clicks away. This year, the platform has teamed up with leading jewellery brands like Malabar Gold, Kalyan Jewellers, MMTC, and Mia by Tanishq, offering certified gold and silver coins right to customers’ doors.
With 24/7 delivery now expanded across cities including Delhi, Noida, and Gurugram, Instamart continues to redefine what “instant” means in quick commerce. From smartphones and luxury watches to festive jewellery, it’s all about blending convenience with indulgence wrapped in a dash of humour and a whole lot of gold.
As Sonakshi’s spoon gleams and bullets bounce off, one thing’s clear: in the fast lane of festive shopping, Instamart isn’t just serving speed, it’s serving sparkle.
Brands
Tessolve lands a semiconductor veteran to drive its next big push
Ravi Kumar Chirugudu, who started his career at ISRO and has spent 35 years building chips and companies, joins the Bengaluru-based firm as president and chief operating officer
BENGALURU: Tessolve has never been shy about its ambitions. The Bengaluru-based engineering services firm already counts 18 of the world’s top 20 semiconductor companies among its clients, employs more than 3,500 engineers across 12 countries, and last year pocketed a $150m investment from TPG. Now it has hired the executive it believes can turn those assets into something bigger. Ravi Kumar Chirugudu, a 35-year semiconductor veteran who once built satellite payloads for ISRO and has since scaled engineering organisations across three continents, joins as president and chief operating officer, effective immediately.
THE MAN AND THE MANDATE
The appointment is, by any measure, a serious hire. Ravi Kumar Chirugudu comes to Tessolve after senior leadership stints at HCL Technologies, Altran and Wipro, where he managed large profit-and-loss portfolios and oversaw cross-regional teams. Over the course of his career, he has been instrumental in bringing more than 1,000 new products to market across the high-tech, energy and manufacturing verticals. Before the private sector claimed him, he began his working life as a scientist at the Indian Space Research Organisation, contributing to research and development in charge-coupled device technology and satellite payloads, a foundation that shaped everything that followed.
In his new role, he will lead Tessolve’s global growth strategy: expanding its engineering capabilities, deepening customer relationships and accelerating innovation across semiconductor and high-performance computing domains. The brief is broad, but the context is specific. Tessolve operates in the $550 billion global semiconductor market, and its recent moves, the acquisition of Germany’s Dream Chip Technologies and the TPG funding round, have sharpened both its reach and its expectations.
Srini Chinamilli, co-founder and chief executive of Tessolve, is characteristically direct about why Ravi Kumar Chirugudu was the choice:
“As we scale our global semiconductor and system engineering capabilities, Ravi’s appointment marks an important step forward. As global semiconductor demand continues to accelerate across industries, it is creating significant opportunities across the semiconductor lifecycle, from design, packaging, validation and systems integration. Ravi’s deep knowledge and leadership in this ecosystem brings the right mix of industry expertise, customer connect and execution capability, which will play a key role in strengthening our position as a trusted global engineering partner and reinforcing our market leadership.”
THE NEW ARRIVAL SPEAKS
Ravi Kumar Chirugudu, for his part, frames the move in terms of timing and culture, two factors that veteran executives tend to weigh as heavily as title or compensation:
“I am happy to join Tessolve at a time when the industry is rapidly evolving towards more complex, AI-driven systems. What stands out to me is its strong people-first culture and its commitment to bringing value to its customers. The strength of its global team, combined with its deep expertise in semiconductor innovation and next-generation product engineering, creates a solid foundation to build differentiated, scalable solutions. I look forward to working closely with the team to drive strategic growth and strengthen its role in shaping the global semiconductor ecosystem.”
The reference to AI-driven systems is not incidental. The semiconductor industry is in the midst of a structural reshaping, driven by the insatiable compute demands of artificial intelligence. For engineering services firms like Tessolve, which offers end-to-end capabilities from silicon design to packaged parts and invests in high-performance computing, high-speed interfaces, photonics and 5G, the moment is both an opportunity and a test. The company says it is well positioned to capture the next wave of industry growth. Ravi Kumar Chirugudu is now the person who has to prove it.
He came in from outer space, literally, and spent three decades learning how the semiconductor industry works from the inside out. Now Tessolve is betting that accumulated knowledge can help it cross the next frontier. In the $550 billion global chip market, the gap between ambition and execution is measured in engineering hours and leadership quality. Tessolve has just gone shopping for both.
