MAM
HostBooks appoints Abhijit Dutta as CSO and advisor to board to drive exponential growth
Mumbai: HostBooks – a SaaS-based and one of the fastest-growing accounting platforms is moving on an expansion spree with the recent appointment of Abhijit Dutta as the Chief Strategy Officer and Advisor to the board. With his appointment, HostBooks aims to revolutionise its growth strategy, strengthen its leadership position, and acquire a significant market share across international markets.
With over 28 years of profound experience across the gamut of Sales, Operations, Marketing, and Communications, in all spheres across myriad industries, Abhijit is set to take charge of the complete Sales, Development, and Leadership operations at HostBooks. Under his expertise, the company’s key focus remains to enhance holistic business growth and propel the development of a robust leadership team. Abhijit’s experience in leading and building excelling business strategies will facilitate the platform’s profitable growth trajectory and fortify its presence in international waters such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
HostBooks co-founder Biswajit Mishra said, “We’re elated to have Abhijit on on-board. He commands an impressive track record in overseeing diverse operations across multiple globally renowned companies. His expertise will empower us to achieve profitable growth both domestically and internationally and drive us to improve the focal areas. The domain knowledge and network he brings to the forum will enable us to solidify our position as the leader in the automation software space.”
HostBooks CSO and board advisor Abhijit Dutta said, “I am excited about joining the comprehensive automation platform for all business needs – HostBooks. It is a fantastic opportunity to be a part of a dynamic company that is taking charge to streamline the automation requirement of SMEs. Given my background in driving revenue growth, I look forward to contributing to the company’s ongoing success and propel it to accelerate SMEs’ business efficiency.”
“I am eager to work with the talented team of HostBooks and with our collaborative efforts we look forward to revamping the sales, people and brand strategy. While delivering exceptional value to our clients, I am confident we will build a long-term stable solution that will act as a catalyst for SME growth, bolstering meaningful results for the company,” he adds.
Prior to the stint at HostBooks, Abhijit had most recently served as Chief Business Officer at Believe Cosmetic Pvt Ltd, where he single-handedly built the business from scratch. He has also been part of Fintech start-up Innoviti payment solution and has been instrumental in building the B2B Channel Business for them. Adding to his professional wisdom, he has also partnered with some of the largest MNCs across industries like Tally Solutions, HCL Infosystem, Nivea India Pvt Ltd, where he blended his strategic thinking to foster excellence in execution.
As a premium automated business solution that revolutionises the business operations of SMEs, HostBooks is poised to become a pioneer in this highly competitive space, delivering excellence in execution to its diverse clientele both global and domestic.
AD Agencies
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.
