Brands
Indian distiller uncorks a spirited legacy in Indri single malt
MUMBAI: India’s whisky revolution has taken another dram-atic leap forward with Piccadily Agro Industries unveiling its most ambitious spirit yet: Indri Founder’s Reserve, an 11-year-old single malt that has already collected more medals than an Olympic swimming team.
The limited-edition bottling—just 1,100 bottles worldwide—pays tribute to the company’s founder Kidar Nath Sharma, whose entrepreneurial zeal transformed a family business into the diversified Piccadily Group. Aged in ex-Bordeaux red wine casks, the whisky comes with more than a splash of ambition, aiming to put Indian single malts firmly on the global spirits map.
The distiller, located in Haryana’s subtropical north, has made a virtue of India’s punishing climate swings. While Scottish distillers might consider 20°C a heatwave, Indri’s barrels endure scorching 50°C summers before plunging to freezing winters—conditions that accelerate maturation and impart what the company describes as “complexity and depth unique to the region’s terroir.”
Bottled at a robust 50 per cent ABV for domestic consumption (and an even punchier 58.5 per cent for international markets), the amber liquid promises dark fruits and spices on the nose, with caramelised nuts and vanilla on the palate—followed by what the company calls an “indulgent finish” of oak and wine-influenced sweetness.
“This expression embodies the essence of our founder’s dream: to create world-class Indian single malt whisky with soul, structure, and enduring quality,” says Piccadily Agro Industries marketing head Shalini Sharma.
The distiller’s confidence isn’t merely liquid courage—its latest creation has already charmed international judges, collecting platinum at the Las Vegas Global Spirits Awards with an impressive 98 points, and ranking eighth in the International Whisky Competition’s “Top 15 Whiskies of the World.”
For those intrigued by this subcontinental dram, the company has adopted the ultimate luxury marketing approach: “Price on request.”
The message is clear—Piccadily isn’t merely producing whisky; it’s bottling ambition and selling it by the dram.
Brands
Rakesh Menon joins Paytm as avp – lending
Fintech product leader takes on new role after building digital lending, payments and credit products across fintech ecosystem
MUMBAI: Rakesh Menon has joined Paytm as assistant vice president – lending, taking on a new role focused on strengthening the company’s lending and credit products.
Prior to this, Menon worked at Profectus Capital Pvt Ltd as chief manager – payments based financing and digital lending.
At Profectus, he designed and launched digital credit products for merchants with variable cash flows, including overdraft-linked and revenue-share lending models. He led end-to-end LOS–LMS API integrations with payment partners and aggregators, enabling real-time underwriting, disbursal and repayment workflows.
He also worked on funnel optimisation initiatives using journey analytics, improving onboarding, KYC and disbursal conversion by 35 per cent. He developed ecosystem partnerships for transaction-data-based credit assessment and automated settlement systems, and collaborated with credit and data science teams to strengthen risk models and early delinquency detection.
Menon standardised partner onboarding and API frameworks, reducing go-live timelines by 40 per cent and improving digital scalability.
Before Profectus Capital, he worked at PayU as senior manager – presales lead – enterprise business from August 2022 to August 2023. He set up a national presales function for fintech and digital commerce clients, aligning solutions such as EMI, BNPL, BBPS and offer engines to merchant requirements.
He also helped improve conversion rates by around 15 per cent through merchant persona mapping, demo frameworks and structured sales playbooks, working closely with product and go-to-market teams.
From April 2019 to July 2022, Menon served as business unit head – SMB – direct acquisitions at Worldline, where he built the SMB online payments vertical from scratch. The business scaled to Rs 2,500 crore in annual transaction volume, growing at 45 per cent year-on-year.
During this period, he introduced paperless onboarding processes including eKYC and eSign, developed partner dashboards and CRM automation systems, and integrated platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce and Tally to expand merchant adoption.
Across roles, Menon has worked across digital lending, payments and merchant financing, with experience in product development, ecosystem partnerships, API integrations and fintech-led growth strategies.
At Paytm, he will focus on scaling lending products and strengthening digital credit infrastructure within the company’s financial services ecosystem.
His appointment comes as fintech firms continue to expand their lending and embedded finance offerings in a competitive market.
