Brands
Eureka Forbes revamp couldn’t have come at a better time: CTO Shashank Sinha
NEW DELHI: Joining the league of brands like VI, Intel, and Cadbury, Mumbai-based consumer goods company Eureka Forbes Ltd adopted a new brand positioning and identity in 2020 after three decades of operations. The brand, which pioneered the basic principles of health and hygiene in the category, embarked on a journey in pursuit of thriving in tough times and leaving behind footprints of a positive difference, taking forward its philosophy of ‘friends for life.’ In a recent conversation with Indiantelevision.com’s Mansi Sharma, Eureka Forbes Ltd chief transformation officer Shashank Sinha talked in detail about this move, the new brand identity, and how 2020 fared for the company. Edited excerpts follow:
On adopting a new brand identity in 2020
This revamp was in process for us for quite some time. In fact, our initial plan was to announce it at our 2020 annual general meeting in the month of April. However, the circumstances that we found ourselves in the wake of Covid2019 lockdown did not even allow us to host the meeting. Thus, the announcement was postponed and as things started looking better, we took the call to roll it out.
Obviously, it was a challenging year and time, but it also provided us with the right background to better push forwards our improved agenda of ensuring the health and hygiene of the customers with our products.
On the rationale behind the rebranding
Every brand finds itself in our position someday, from where they want to celebrate their successful journey while also preparing for a better future. This is that time for us, when we are looking back proudly on our almost four-decade-long journey and also reflecting on how we are poised for the future. I believe there couldn’t have been a better year than 2020 to start with this new journey.
On the new brand positioning
When we had started our journey in 1982, we were possibly the first ones to pioneer this thought of health, hygiene, and safety with our products. We promised to tackle viruses then, at least for the water and air category. In fact, our brand of water purifiers, Aquaguard, became synonymous with the category. This was made possible because of our commitment to creating a better world with a positive difference. So, this philosophy has been there for quite a while. We are now going ahead to strengthen it in tandem with the times that we are in now. ‘A healthy world. A protected you. A happy us, revisited for the changing times’ is the new vision statement, which spells trust, authenticity and health.
We will keep functioning standing tall on the three tenets of our identity; people, society, and a better world.
So, our focus will be on improving the lives and experiences of people who are working for us. We have always taken pride in building great careers and lives. That will continue. For consumers, we are promising to try and make a difference in their lives. All this will contribute to a better society and overall a better future for the world.
On the new brand identity
We have rolled out a new logo for Eureka Forbes, which we are calling the ‘Posibol’ – a combination of positivity and symbol. This creates an internal focus within ourselves and the forward-looking arrow also shows the direction we are moving in.
Secondly, of our four core businesses, we have combined the three – Euroclean, Aeroguard, and Eurovigil – under the brand name Forbes. It was done because of the fact that people identify all these products as Eureka Forbes’ ones and the brand identity is rather strong.
Our range of water-related products will continue under the Aquaguard name. We have slightly tweaked the Aquaguard logo as well, to initiate the change yet keep it recognisable to the loyal customer base.
We have worked with a number of agencies including Taproot dentsu and Bombay DC for various aspects of this rebranding. Our internal teams have also contributed immensely, right from the new logos to the brand philosophy. As we go ahead, we will bring on newer partners to take forward the vision.
On the marketing strategy
For us, the prime face of our brand are people we call Eurochamps. These are people like me and our on-ground teams who have been assisting our customers on a regular basis. Real people meeting real customers is our core marketing strategy.
Apart from that, Madhuri Dixit and her husband Dr (Sriram) Nene have been closely associated with us for years now. I don’t see any change happening there.
Additionally, the new logos have already been rolled out on our products and digital platforms. We haven’t rolled out a special corporate campaign for that thus far.
2020 was a muted year for us like most brands, but we are certainly planning on a marketing strategy for 2021-22. Both television and digital will play an important role for that. I see the spends getting divided into a 50:50 ratio between traditional and modern platforms. As far as print is concerned, I don’t think it is dead for us. However, its role and relevancy have certainly changed with digital getting in place.
Brands
From AI to IPOs: Hurun rich list shows billionaire boom year
AI, China and Musk power record surge as global billionaire club crosses 4,020
MUMBAI: Money, it seems, has learned to multiply faster than rabbits. The world’s billionaire club has burst through the 4,000 mark for the first time, with fortunes swelling so rapidly that the planet minted two new billionaires every single day last year.
That is the headline finding from the Hurun Global Rich List 2026, which counted 4,020 US dollar billionaires, up 578 from last year, setting a new world record. Their combined fortunes jumped 28 per cent, reflecting roaring stock markets, the unstoppable momentum of artificial intelligence, and a renewed wave of global industrial expansion.
If wealth were an Olympic sport, Elon Musk would be running laps around the competition. The Tesla and SpaceX founder has reclaimed the title of the world’s richest person for the fifth time in six years, with his wealth soaring 89 per cent to an astonishing US$792 billion. The surge was fuelled by booming valuations for Tesla and SpaceX, the latter now valued at US$1.2 trillion as it prepares for what could be a record-breaking IPO.
Musk’s meteoric rise also places him on the brink of a historic milestone. According to Hurun Research, he could become the world’s first trillionaire as early as this year, far earlier than previous predictions of 2030.
Behind Musk, Jeff Bezos retained second place with US$300 billion, buoyed by Amazon’s dominance in AI-driven cloud computing and renewed excitement around Blue Origin’s space ambitions. Meanwhile, Larry Page stormed into the top three for the first time after his wealth surged 65 per cent to US$271 billion, powered by Alphabet’s explosive growth and the global adoption of its Gemini AI systems.
Other big tech names continue to dominate the upper ranks. Sergey Brin sits fifth with US$247 billion, while Mark Zuckerberg, despite a modest rise to US$234 billion, slipped to sixth place. Europe’s lone representative in the top ten, Bernard Arnault of LVMH, held seventh position with US$178 billion following a rebound in luxury markets.
Perhaps the most striking new arrival in the top tier is Nvidia chief Jensen Huang, who entered the global top ten for the first time. His wealth climbed 34 per cent to US$172 billion after Nvidia briefly crossed a US$5 trillion market capitalisation, cementing its role as the backbone of the AI revolution.
Yet while tech titans surged, one legendary name slipped from the elite club. Bill Gates, after donating US$20 billion to philanthropy last year, dropped out of the top ten for the first time since the Hurun list began fifteen years ago, though he still retains a formidable US$115 billion fortune.
The geography of wealth has also shifted dramatically. After several years of decline, China has reclaimed its title as the world’s billionaire capital, with 1,110 billionaires, an increase of 287 in a single year.
The United States follows with 1,000 billionaires, up 130, while India remains firmly in third place with 308 billionaires, gaining 24 over the year.
Hurun researchers say China’s resurgence has been driven by industrial manufacturing, semiconductors and healthcare, sectors benefiting from Beijing’s push for technological self-sufficiency.
In India, the billionaire story is evolving rapidly. More than 80 per cent of Indian billionaires today were not on the list ten years ago, signalling a dramatic shift in the country’s wealth engines. Automobiles, financial services and food businesses led the charge.
At the top of India’s wealth ladder stands Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest person, with US$109 billion, followed by Gautam Adani with US$83 billion.
At the city level, the title of world’s billionaire capital once again belongs to New York, which hosts 146 billionaires, up 17 from last year.
China’s Shenzhen surged into second place with 132, overtaking Shanghai, while Beijing ranked third. Mumbai, home to 95 billionaires, slipped to sixth place globally.
If one force defined wealth creation in 2025, it was artificial intelligence. The list identified 114 billionaires whose fortunes are tied to AI companies, including 46 newcomers, making AI the single biggest engine of new billionaire creation.
Companies like Anthropic, the creator of Claude AI, produced seven new billionaires after its valuation soared to US$380 billion. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s alumni network has become a billionaire factory, with 14 billionaires emerging from the ecosystem.
The youngest among the new wealth creators are the founders of AI recruitment startup Mercor. Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha, all just 22, debuted with fortunes of US$2.4 billion each, becoming the youngest self-made billionaires on the list.
The billionaire economy is also becoming more diverse. By sector, financial services remained the biggest source of wealth, accounting for 11 per cent of billionaires, followed by media and entertainment (10 per cent), retail (9 per cent), and consumer goods (8 per cent).
Industrial products saw the biggest influx of newcomers, adding 109 billionaires, while healthcare also produced a significant wave of fresh fortunes.
Even cryptocurrencies maintained a foothold, with 23 crypto billionaires led by Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, worth US$29 billion, a 32 per cent increase.
Wealth is also spilling into unexpected arenas. A record 463 billionaires now own stakes in sports teams, including Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Golden State Warriors investors Peter Guber and Joe Lacob.
Celebrity fortunes also climbed. The world now counts 25 billionaire celebrities and athletes, reflecting a shift toward ownership of brands and intellectual property rather than performance income alone.
Despite the rise of young tech founders, billionaires remain an older club. The average age on the list is 65, though 196 members are aged 40 or under, including 36 under 30.
Women continue to gain ground, with 285 self-made female billionaires, though China still dominates the category with three quarters of them.
Meanwhile, migration continues to shape global wealth. Around 14 per cent of billionaires live outside the country where they were born, with the United States hosting the largest group of immigrant billionaires at 175.
In total, 3,201 billionaires saw their fortunes rise, including 726 newcomers, while 809 saw their wealth fall and 96 dropped off the list entirely.
Yet the overall trend is clear. The billionaire population has more than doubled in a decade, and the elite US$100 billion “11-zero club” now counts 18 members, compared with none less than ten years ago.
As Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman of Hurun Report, puts it, the list tells the story of a rapidly changing global economy. “More than 70 per cent of today’s billionaires were not on the list ten years ago,” he noted.
Which means the real lesson behind the numbers is simple: in today’s economy, fortunes are no longer just built slowly. Increasingly, they are being engineered at the speed of innovation.
