MAM
Infectious Advertising’s Ramanuj Shastry joins NY Festivals Grand Jury 2024
Mumbai: Globally celebrated international advertising competition New York Festivals announced the appointment of Infectious Advertising’s Ramanuj Shastry as one of the Grand Jury members for its 2024 Advertising Awards. The NYF awards are held across regional, national and continental boundaries and provide a complete representation of the best in communications.
“Ramanuj Shastry brings over 25 years of creative leadership and industry expertise to the 2024 NYF Advertising Awards Grand Jury panel,” said Scott Rose, executive director of the NYF Advertising Awards. “His award-winning work has earned him a trophy shelf of accolades, and his experience crafting campaigns for prestigious global brands truly makes him an asset in honouring trophy-worthy work.”
Infectious Advertising creative chairman Ramanuj Shastry added, “Chuffed to be picked as a juror for the 2024 edition of the prestigious New York Festivals of Advertising. I am excited to see tremendous ideas from around the world and discuss them with some of the finest minds in the business. Eagerly looking forward to this!”
An alumnus (PRM-90-92) of IRMA (Institute of Rural Management, Anand), Ramanuj has more than 25 years of experience in advertising. He learnt his craft at Ogilvy and McCann and served as CCO at Publicis Ambience, Rediffusion Y&R and Saatchi & Saatchi (in that order) before launching his agency, Infectious Advertising with Nisha Singhania in 2013.
He has won several Indian and international awards and served on the film jury at Cannes Lions 2010. Ramanuj has more than 200 ad films to his name and some of the landmark campaigns he has worked on are ‘Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola’, Saffola – ‘Kal Se’ and OLX – ‘Bech De’. He was one of the Jury Members for New York Festivals 2021 as well!
The official deadline to enter the 2024 New York Festivals Advertising Awards is April 5 with a final closing deadline of April 26, 2024.
All entries into the 2024 NYF Advertising Awards competition will be judged by 400+
members of NYF’s Executive Jury and Grand Jury, a panel of prominent global creative minds, who collectively cast over 400,000+ votes to select the World’s Best Advertising.
The New York Festivals Advertising Awards competition receives entries from more than 60 countries. It is judged by more than 400 NYF’s Executive and Grand Jury members, who collectively cast their votes to select the year’s trophy-winning work.
Brands
Jubilant FoodWorks faces Rs 47.5 crore GST demand, plans appeal
Tax authorities flag alleged misclassification of restaurant services
MUMBAI: Jubilant FoodWorks Limited has landed in a tax tussle after receiving a GST demand of Rs 47.5 crore from the office of the additional commissioner of CGST and central excise in Thane, Maharashtra.
The order, issued under the provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, relates to an alleged incorrect classification of certain services under the category of restaurant services. According to the tax authorities, this classification resulted in a short payment of goods and services tax for the period between the financial years 2019-20 and 2021-22.
The demand includes Rs 47.5 crore in GST along with an equal amount as penalty, in addition to applicable interest. The order was received by the company on March 13, 2026.
In a regulatory filing to the BSE Limited and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited, the company said it disagrees with the order and believes its arguments were not adequately considered.
The company is preparing to challenge the decision and plans to file an appeal. It added that once the redressal process is complete, the demand is likely to be dropped.
Despite the sizeable figure attached to the notice, the company said it does not expect any material impact on its financials, operations or other activities.
The disclosure was signed by Suman Hegde, EVP and chief financial officer, who confirmed that the company received the order at 19:06 IST on March 13 and has already initiated steps to contest it.
The development places the quick service restaurant major in the middle of a tax debate that could hinge on how certain restaurant-linked services are classified under GST rules. For now, the company appears ready to take the matter from the tax office to the appeals desk.
