Brands
Deconstruct honours neighbourhood barbers in ‘Bring Back Barber shops’
BENGALURU: Deconstruct Skincare has rolled out a new brand campaign, Bring Back Barber shops, paying tribute to neighbourhood barber shops: longstanding spaces that have shaped grooming rituals, trust and everyday human connection for generations of Indian men. The digitally amplified campaign showcases local barbers as the original grooming influencers, long before algorithms and social media took over.
The campaign features three real barbers from south India, speaking in Kannada, Telugu and Tamil. Through their own voices, they reflect on decades spent behind the chair, the customers who became family, and the quiet continuity of routines built in the 1980s and 1990s: same shop, same barber, same unspoken understanding. The films capture barbershops as cultural fixtures: places where conversations flow freely and care is personal rather than transactional.
Set against the backdrop of shrinking neighbourhood businesses, the campaign acknowledges the pressures faced by local barbershops over the past decade, many of which have shut down. It closes with a gentle call to action, urging viewers to return to and support their neighbourhood barber. Deconstruct’s oil-free moisturiser appears subtly at the end, positioned as a modern replacement for the familiar sting of traditional aftershave, fitting seamlessly into an existing ritual rather than disrupting it.
Deconstruct founder and chief executive officer Malini Adapureddy, said the idea was to honour, not overhaul, men’s grooming traditions. She added that the campaign recognises the barbershop as a place of care and trust, with products designed to integrate naturally into rituals men already believe in.
Brands
Jio Financial Services posts Rs 1,560 crore FY26 profit
Revenue rises to Rs 3,513 crore as investments and lending scale up.
MUMBAI: If money makes the world go round, Jio Financial Services Limited is quietly spinning a much bigger wheel. The Reliance-backed financial arm reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,560.9 crore for FY26, slightly lower than Rs 1,612.6 crore in FY25, even as revenue growth gathered pace.
Total revenue from operations rose sharply to Rs 3,513.3 crore in FY26 from Rs 2,042.9 crore a year earlier, driven largely by a surge in interest income, which more than doubled to Rs 1,901.9 crore from Rs 852.5 crore. Fee and commission income also saw a significant jump to Rs 597 crore, compared to Rs 155.2 crore in FY25, reflecting expanding financial services activity.
For the March quarter, profit stood at Rs 272.2 crore, broadly flat compared to Rs 269 crore in the same period last year. Quarterly revenue from operations climbed to Rs 1,018.5 crore, up from Rs 493.2 crore year-on-year, signalling steady momentum in core income streams.
Expenses, however, moved in tandem with growth. Total costs nearly quadrupled to Rs 1,982.9 crore in FY26 from Rs 524.8 crore in FY25, with finance costs alone rising to Rs 745.1 crore from just Rs 7.7 crore a year earlier, reflecting increased borrowing and scale of operations. Employee expenses also grew to Rs 387.3 crore, while other expenses expanded to Rs 755 crore.
Profit before tax stood at Rs 1,911.7 crore for the year, slightly below Rs 1,946.9 crore in FY25. After accounting for a total tax outgo of Rs 350.8 crore, the company reported its final net profit figure.
Beyond the income statement, the balance sheet tells a story of rapid expansion. Total assets surged to Rs 1,63,497 crore as of March 31, 2026, up from Rs 1,33,510 crore a year earlier. Investments alone stood at Rs 1,33,088.7 crore, underscoring the company’s strong focus on treasury and financial asset growth.
However, the year also saw sharp volatility in other comprehensive income, which swung to a loss of Rs 16,028.3 crore, largely driven by fair value changes in equity instruments. This dragged total comprehensive income for FY26 to a negative Rs 15,756.1 crore, compared to a positive Rs 14,870 crore in FY25.
On the capital front, the company’s paid-up equity share capital remained steady at Rs 6,353.1 crore, with other equity rising to Rs 1,27,500.5 crore.
The numbers reflect a business in transition scaling rapidly across lending, investments and fee-based services, but also navigating the volatility that comes with mark-to-market movements in financial assets. In other words, while the top line is accelerating, the fine print still carries a few swings.
