MAM
Bankersklub hires Gaurav Kathuria to lead marketing and partnerships in growth-hungry fintech blitz
MUMBAI: In the mad scramble for fintech dominance, where buzzwords fly faster than balance sheets, Bankersklub has just made a power move. The corporate finance aggregator – already making waves by blending old-school banking smarts with new-age startup hustle – has roped in Gaurav Kathuria as its head of marketing & partnerships. It’s the kind of appointment that says, “We’re not just playing to survive – we’re scaling to dominate.”
Kathuria’s appointment is a key piece in Bankersklub’s playbook to build a sustainable, scalable fintech brand that’s not afraid to speak the language of VCs, IPOs and big-ticket clients. And with over 20 years of experience across marketing, growth, and digital transformation – including stints at The Times of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Visa Inc., and Home Credit – Kathuria isn’t here to faff around.
In his new role, he’ll lead everything from partnerships and integrated campaigns to performance marketing, content creation and automation. Basically, he’ll be the man behind the fintech curtain, pulling levers that drive brand visibility and lead generation while the rest of us wonder how they suddenly appeared on every timeline and podcast.
Welcoming him on board, Bankersklub founder & CEO Rajat Chopra stated, “We are excited to welcome Gaurav as our head of marketing & partnerships. His demonstrated success in brand development, client engagement, and strategic partnerships aligns perfectly with our vision for Bankersklub’s growth. Gaurav’s leadership and expertise will help us scale successful marketing and relationship-building strategies. We are confident that by cultivating high-impact partnerships and optimizing marketing efforts, Gaurav’s leadership will play a key role in propelling Bankersklub to new heights in a competitive marketplace.”
True to fintech form, this isn’t just about making noise – it’s about making it measurable.
And Kathuria gets that.
“I am excited to join Bankersklub and contribute to its mission of facilitating strategic investment opportunities for high-growth companies. My goal is to leverage data-driven marketing strategies and optimize performance across digital and offline channels to enhance brand visibility and customer engagement. By forging strategic partnerships and alliances, I aim to position Bankersklub as a trusted platform for Pre-IPO, IPO, and Growth Capital stage companies. I look forward to driving scalable and sustainable growth by aligning marketing initiatives with business objectives and delivering measurable outcomes,” said Kathuria.
Armed with Martech know-how, automation wizardry, and a knack for demand generation, Kathuria’s reputation for turning campaign dashboards into deal flow could be the secret sauce Bankersklub needs to keep climbing the fintech food chain.
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Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
