Brands
Greaves Cotton reshuffles deck chairs as power veteran takes charge
MUMBAI: Greaves Cotton has handed the reins of its energy solutions business to Swarnendu Jha, a 26-year power industry veteran who has hopscotched between diesel engine makers and generator specialists from Pune to the Gulf.
The Mumbai-listed engineering firm promoted Jha to vice president of energy solutions on Sunday, whilst simultaneously making marketing and sales head Abhijit Joshi report to the newly-minted Jha. With that, Joshi has lost his status as senior management personnel under stock exchange rules.
Jha’s appointment caps a career spent navigating India’s stuttering power sector, from his early days at Kirloskar Oil Engines through stints at American heavyweight Cummins and a spell flogging Caterpillar generators across the Gulf states with distributor Mar Al Bahar. The mechanical engineering graduate from Pune University later topped up his credentials with a sales and marketing diploma from Symbiosis—academic armour for battling in India’s cut-throat industrial markets.
The reshuffle comes as Greaves Cotton, founded in 1859 during the British Raj, grapples with India’s energy transition. The company has been pivoting from its traditional diesel engine roots towards cleaner technologies, including electric vehicles and renewable energy solutions, as environmental regulations tighten and customer preferences shift.
Joshi’s reporting change, which is what Greaves Cotton has diplomatically framed it, suggests the company wants a more seasoned hand steering its energy portfolio. The move mirrors broader corporate India’s tendency to parachute industry specialists into key roles as competition intensifies and margins compress.
The timing is telling: India’s power equipment sector faces headwinds from slowing industrial growth and delayed project approvals, even as the government pushes aggressive renewable energy targets. Companies like Greaves Cotton must thread the needle between supporting India’s coal-fired industrial base and positioning for a cleaner energy future.
For investors, the appointment signals Greaves Cotton’s intent to professionalise its energy division management, though whether Jha’s considerable experience can translate into improved performance remains to be tested against India’s notoriously fickle power markets.
Brands
Estée Lauder to shed 10,000 jobs as new boss bets on digital shift
The cosmetics giant raises its profit outlook but stays silent on a possible merger with Spain’s Puig, as job cuts deepen and a three-year sales slump weighs on the turnaround
NEW YORK: Stéphane de La Faverie is not done cutting. Estée Lauder announced on Friday that it plans to eliminate as many as 3,000 additional jobs, taking its total redundancy programme to as many as 10,000 roles, up from a previous target of 7,000 announced a year ago. The company, which owns La Mer, The Ordinary, Tom Ford, and Aveda, employs roughly 57,000 people worldwide. The mathematics of what is now being contemplated is stark.
The fresh round of cuts is expected to generate a further $200 million in savings, bringing the total annual savings from the programme to as much as $1.2 billion before taxes. That money, De La Faverie has made clear, will be ploughed back into the turnaround.
A CEO in a hurry
De La Faverie, who took the helm in January 2025, inherited a company that had endured three consecutive years of annual sales declines. His response has been to move fast and cut deep. A significant portion of the latest redundancies reflects his push to reduce headcount at US department stores, long a cornerstone of Estée Lauder’s distribution model but now a channel in structural decline. In their place, he is accelerating the shift toward faster-growing online platforms, including Amazon.com and TikTok Shop, a pivot that is reshaping not just where Estée Lauder sells but how it thinks about its customers.
The numbers are moving in the right direction
Despite the pain, there are signs the medicine is working. Estée Lauder raised its profit outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, guiding for adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.35 to $2.45, above analyst estimates and a notable step up from the $2.05 to $2.25 range it had guided for in February. Organic net sales growth is expected to come in at 3 per cent, the company said, at the high end of the range it set out in February.
The share price tells a mixed story. After De La Faverie took charge, the stock surged nearly 60 per cent, buoyed by investor optimism that a longtime company insider could finally arrest the decline. But 2026 has been rougher: the shares have fallen 27 per cent this year, weighed down by disappointing February results and the overhang of unresolved merger talks with Spanish beauty giant Puig Brands SA. The company gave no additional details about those discussions on Friday, leaving the market to guess.
Silence on Puig
The proposed tie-up with Puig remains the most consequential unknown hanging over Estée Lauder. A deal with the Barcelona-based group, which owns brands including Carolina Herrera and Rabanne, would reshape the global luxury beauty landscape. But with nothing new to say and a turnaround still very much in progress, De La Faverie is asking investors to trust the process.
Three years of sales declines, 10,000 job cuts, and a merger that may or may not happen. At Estée Lauder, the overhaul has barely started.
