MAM
Avinash Pillai joining Turner India as director ad sales
MUMBAI: In a bid to strengthen its ad sales team, Turner International India Pvt Ltd has poached Avinash Pillai from MindShare. Pillai will be the director ad sales for Cartoon Network and Pogo.
When contacted, company officials refused to divulge any details as to which regions Pillai would be in charge of. Pillai will be reporting to Turner India vice-president and national advertising sales head Monica Tata.
Attempts by Indiantelevision.com to contact Tata regarding Pillai’s induction proved futile.
Pillai, who is currently director business with MindShare based out of Mumbai, is expected to take up his new portfolio next week.
Pogo, which was launched at the start of 2004, has managed to achieve distribution reach of approximately 17 million homes while kids segment leader Cartoon Network has a reach of approximately 22 million homes.
Brands
UltraTech Cement appoints Jayant Dua as managing director
Dua will succeed K. C. Jhanwar after his term ends in December 2026
MUMBAI: UltraTech Cement, the flagship cement arm of the Aditya Birla Group, has elevated Jayant Dua as managing director, effective 1 April, 2026.
The company’s board also approved his appointment as additional director, managing director and key managerial personnel, effective 1 January, 2027, following the completion of the current managing director K C Jhanwar’s term on 31 December, 2026, according to a regulatory filing.
Dua will serve as managing director for a four-year term from 1 January, 2027 to 31 December, 2030.
A veteran executive with more than 37 years of professional experience, Dua joined the Aditya Birla Group’s cement business in 1996 and spent nearly a decade in various functional and leadership roles.
Over the past two decades, he has held several profit-and-loss and chief executive responsibilities across multiple group businesses, including insulators, insurance, Century Cement and the chlor-alkali segment. In 2023, he was elevated to lead the group’s renewables and textiles businesses.
Within the group, Dua has received several internal honours, including the chairman’s individual award for exceptional contribution in 2002, the outstanding leader award in 2009 and the leader of leaders recognition in 2022.
He holds an engineering degree from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, an MBA from International Management Institute and has completed the advanced management programme at Harvard Business School.
