Brands
ITC unveils ‘Feel Good with Fiama Mental Wellbeing Survey 2024’
Mumbai: With mental health conversations gaining traction, ITC’s ‘Feel Good with Fiama Mental Wellbeing Survey 2024’, commissioned with NielsenIQ, in its fourth year unveils the awareness, attitude, and behavioural landscape for mental wellbeing in India.
Despite growing awareness, many individuals still struggle in silence, hesitant to openly discuss their emotional well-being or seek professional help. While 83 per cent of the survey participants believe mental health issues are nothing to be ashamed of, 81 per cent feel ashamed of telling others that they are taking therapy.
The survey further reveals that 90 per cent of respondents would appreciate better work-life balance policies. Thus, employee wellbeing, implementing supportive measures, and fostering a healthier work environment is gradually gaining momentum in organisations across the country.
Key findings of the survey:
Additionally, the survey highlights that 42 per cent of respondents indicate that career decisions also negatively impact their mental wellbeing. This finding emphasizes the importance of managing work-related stress since it has the ability to permeate various aspects of an individual’s life.
Cost is a major deterrent to seeking therapy, with 77 per cent of survey participants finding it expensive. Virtual therapy is a more accessible and affordable alternative. Notably, among the surveyed individuals who are suffering or have family members suffering from mental health issues 52 per cent of Gen Z are now open to online counselling, which is a significant increase from 36% last year, highlighting the growing comfort with digital solutions for mental health support. ITC Fiama, through its ‘Feel Good with Fiama’ initiative, in partnership with The Minds Foundation provides subsidized virtual therapy with qualified professionals making therapy at Rs 300/- per session. https://www.fiama.in/feel-good
This year’s survey also reveals 80 per cent of the participating Gen Z believe their parents would support them in therapy. There is a growing acceptance among close social circles and is a step towards normalizing mental health conversations.
“The ‘Feel Good with Fiama’ initiative resonates deeply with our brand purpose,” said ITC Ltd divisional chief executive, personal care products business, Sameer Satpathy. “We understand that the journey to mental well-being can be challenging, and sometimes even knowing where to start can feel overwhelming. This year’s survey revealed the many barriers to therapy like high cost, stigma, and difficulty in finding the right therapist. This insight fuels our commitment to making therapy more accessible and affordable through Fiama’s Virtual therapy Clinic in partnership with the Minds Foundation. It is encouraging to see the progressive attitude towards understanding, acknowledging, and addressing mental wellbeing.”
While professional help is crucial for addressing mental wellbeing, the survey also highlights the importance of incorporating healthy coping mechanisms into our daily lives. 29 per cent of the surveyed individuals turn to practices like yoga, 31 per cent to meditation, and 30 per cent to physical exercises like playing sports, dancing, gym, walking, etc. to de-stress. 36 per cent find solace in the soothing power of music. ITC Fiama is working towards making mental wellbeing a priority by fostering a culture of openness and acceptance.
Brands
Tessolve lands a semiconductor veteran to drive its next big push
Ravi Kumar Chirugudu, who started his career at ISRO and has spent 35 years building chips and companies, joins the Bengaluru-based firm as president and chief operating officer
BENGALURU: Tessolve has never been shy about its ambitions. The Bengaluru-based engineering services firm already counts 18 of the world’s top 20 semiconductor companies among its clients, employs more than 3,500 engineers across 12 countries, and last year pocketed a $150m investment from TPG. Now it has hired the executive it believes can turn those assets into something bigger. Ravi Kumar Chirugudu, a 35-year semiconductor veteran who once built satellite payloads for ISRO and has since scaled engineering organisations across three continents, joins as president and chief operating officer, effective immediately.
THE MAN AND THE MANDATE
The appointment is, by any measure, a serious hire. Ravi Kumar Chirugudu comes to Tessolve after senior leadership stints at HCL Technologies, Altran and Wipro, where he managed large profit-and-loss portfolios and oversaw cross-regional teams. Over the course of his career, he has been instrumental in bringing more than 1,000 new products to market across the high-tech, energy and manufacturing verticals. Before the private sector claimed him, he began his working life as a scientist at the Indian Space Research Organisation, contributing to research and development in charge-coupled device technology and satellite payloads, a foundation that shaped everything that followed.
In his new role, he will lead Tessolve’s global growth strategy: expanding its engineering capabilities, deepening customer relationships and accelerating innovation across semiconductor and high-performance computing domains. The brief is broad, but the context is specific. Tessolve operates in the $550 billion global semiconductor market, and its recent moves, the acquisition of Germany’s Dream Chip Technologies and the TPG funding round, have sharpened both its reach and its expectations.
Srini Chinamilli, co-founder and chief executive of Tessolve, is characteristically direct about why Ravi Kumar Chirugudu was the choice:
“As we scale our global semiconductor and system engineering capabilities, Ravi’s appointment marks an important step forward. As global semiconductor demand continues to accelerate across industries, it is creating significant opportunities across the semiconductor lifecycle, from design, packaging, validation and systems integration. Ravi’s deep knowledge and leadership in this ecosystem brings the right mix of industry expertise, customer connect and execution capability, which will play a key role in strengthening our position as a trusted global engineering partner and reinforcing our market leadership.”
THE NEW ARRIVAL SPEAKS
Ravi Kumar Chirugudu, for his part, frames the move in terms of timing and culture, two factors that veteran executives tend to weigh as heavily as title or compensation:
“I am happy to join Tessolve at a time when the industry is rapidly evolving towards more complex, AI-driven systems. What stands out to me is its strong people-first culture and its commitment to bringing value to its customers. The strength of its global team, combined with its deep expertise in semiconductor innovation and next-generation product engineering, creates a solid foundation to build differentiated, scalable solutions. I look forward to working closely with the team to drive strategic growth and strengthen its role in shaping the global semiconductor ecosystem.”
The reference to AI-driven systems is not incidental. The semiconductor industry is in the midst of a structural reshaping, driven by the insatiable compute demands of artificial intelligence. For engineering services firms like Tessolve, which offers end-to-end capabilities from silicon design to packaged parts and invests in high-performance computing, high-speed interfaces, photonics and 5G, the moment is both an opportunity and a test. The company says it is well positioned to capture the next wave of industry growth. Ravi Kumar Chirugudu is now the person who has to prove it.
He came in from outer space, literally, and spent three decades learning how the semiconductor industry works from the inside out. Now Tessolve is betting that accumulated knowledge can help it cross the next frontier. In the $550 billion global chip market, the gap between ambition and execution is measured in engineering hours and leadership quality. Tessolve has just gone shopping for both.
