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Cheil SWA elevates Kumar Awanish to group chief operating officer
Former chief growth officer to steer operations and AI push at agency
GURUGRAM: Cheil South West Asia has elevated Kumar Awanish to group chief operating officer, strengthening its leadership team as the agency sharpens its focus on technology and AI-led transformation.
Awanish, who previously served as chief growth officer, will now oversee the group’s operational strategy. He will report to Sungkyoon Kim, president and chief executive officer, and will be based at the agency’s Gurugram headquarters.
In his new role, Awanish will drive operational excellence across the group while fostering closer collaboration among its agencies. He will also help steer Cheil SWA’s ambition to evolve into an AI-first organisation, combining technology and data with creative capabilities to deliver future ready solutions for clients.
“Kumar has the right skill set and experience to lead the group into this dynamic phase,” said Kim. “Cheil SWA is entering a new chapter of advertising transformation led by AI. His passion for the organisation and enthusiasm for work are truly infectious, and I look forward to his next innings with the group.”
With more than two decades of experience across advertising, marketing and digital ecosystems, Awanish has built a career around scaling businesses through technology and data driven strategies. During his tenure as chief growth officer at Cheil India, he led a team of over 100 specialists and helped build the agency’s direct to consumer and commerce capabilities while sustaining strong growth in media operations.
Before joining Cheil SWA, Awanish held roles across several leading organisations including Bharti Airtel, Snapdeal, Times Internet, GroupM and Oppo.
Reflecting on the new role, Awanish said the agency’s next chapter will be driven by a deeper integration of technology and creativity. “We are doubling down on AI literacy across functions and group agencies, empowering our people to use AI not just for efficiency but as a catalyst for human creativity,” he said.
He added that the renewed integration of media and creative capabilities will help the agency remain agile while delivering full funnel impact for clients in an increasingly complex marketing landscape.
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Rakesh Menon joins Paytm as avp – lending
Fintech product leader takes on new role after building digital lending, payments and credit products across fintech ecosystem
MUMBAI: Rakesh Menon has joined Paytm as assistant vice president – lending, taking on a new role focused on strengthening the company’s lending and credit products.
Prior to this, Menon worked at Profectus Capital Pvt Ltd as chief manager – payments based financing and digital lending.
At Profectus, he designed and launched digital credit products for merchants with variable cash flows, including overdraft-linked and revenue-share lending models. He led end-to-end LOS–LMS API integrations with payment partners and aggregators, enabling real-time underwriting, disbursal and repayment workflows.
He also worked on funnel optimisation initiatives using journey analytics, improving onboarding, KYC and disbursal conversion by 35 per cent. He developed ecosystem partnerships for transaction-data-based credit assessment and automated settlement systems, and collaborated with credit and data science teams to strengthen risk models and early delinquency detection.
Menon standardised partner onboarding and API frameworks, reducing go-live timelines by 40 per cent and improving digital scalability.
Before Profectus Capital, he worked at PayU as senior manager – presales lead – enterprise business from August 2022 to August 2023. He set up a national presales function for fintech and digital commerce clients, aligning solutions such as EMI, BNPL, BBPS and offer engines to merchant requirements.
He also helped improve conversion rates by around 15 per cent through merchant persona mapping, demo frameworks and structured sales playbooks, working closely with product and go-to-market teams.
From April 2019 to July 2022, Menon served as business unit head – SMB – direct acquisitions at Worldline, where he built the SMB online payments vertical from scratch. The business scaled to Rs 2,500 crore in annual transaction volume, growing at 45 per cent year-on-year.
During this period, he introduced paperless onboarding processes including eKYC and eSign, developed partner dashboards and CRM automation systems, and integrated platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce and Tally to expand merchant adoption.
Across roles, Menon has worked across digital lending, payments and merchant financing, with experience in product development, ecosystem partnerships, API integrations and fintech-led growth strategies.
At Paytm, he will focus on scaling lending products and strengthening digital credit infrastructure within the company’s financial services ecosystem.
His appointment comes as fintech firms continue to expand their lending and embedded finance offerings in a competitive market.
