MAM
Henna Pande returns to FCB Kinnect as EVP – north, ready for a new chapter
MUMBAI: FCB Kinnect has welcomed back Henna Pande as executive vice president – north. Following a well-deserved sabbatical in 2024 to focus on personal well-being, she is set to steer the agency’s Delhi operations towards further expansion and innovation.
With over 15 years in the industry, Pande played a pivotal role in strengthening Kinnect’s presence in the north. During her six-year tenure, culminating as vice president (North), she expanded the Delhi team from 15 to over 100 professionals and worked with global clients such as Amazon, Nokia, Bausch + Lomb, vivo, and Vistara.
“Rejoining FCB Kinnect feels like returning home,” Pande shared. “Having built the Delhi operations from the ground up, I look forward to this next phase. Working with Rohan Mehta and Chandni Shah has always been an exciting, high-impact experience. Now, with Neville and Priyanka driving an idea-first culture, we have a distinct advantage in turning bold creative thinking into measurable success. The ambition and vision at Kinnect are unparalleled, and I am eager to set new benchmarks and make a meaningful impact.”
FCB Kinnect & FCB/SIX India CEO Mehta described Pande as a driving force in the industry, with a keen understanding of business and a strong ability to blend innovation with operational excellence.
COO Shah added, “Pande has been instrumental in shaping our presence in the north. She understands what makes Kinnect unique – a culture built on creativity, agility, and seamless collaboration. With her back in Delhi, we are poised for even greater success.”
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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.
