Brands
Jio Financial names Sandeep Khetan group chief risk officer
Khetan gets five-year term after joining last year
MUMBAI: Jio Financial Services Limited has announced a change in its senior management personnel, with the board accepting the resignation of group chief risk officer S Anantharaman, and appointing Sandeep Khetan as his successor.
Anantharaman will step down at the close of business on 20 March, 2026. Khetan will assume charge as group chief risk officer for a five-year term beginning 23 March, following approvals from the nomination and remuneration committee and the group risk management committee.
Khetan joined Jio Financial in July 2025 as head of integrated risk management. Since then, he has played a key role in building a unified risk governance framework across the company’s lending, insurance and payments businesses, with a focus on technology-led controls and a strengthened second line of defence.
A chartered accountant with over 24 years of experience, Khetan previously spent more than two decades at ICICI Bank, where he held senior roles across credit appraisal, risk policy, SME and MSME lending, supply chain finance, and retail and business banking distribution.
Brands
Hocco crosses Rs 530cr revenue in two years
Sauce.vc-led Rs 100cr raise values ice cream brand at Rs 2,500cr pre-money as quick commerce hits 20 per cent of sales.
MUMBAI: Hocco has just scooped a seriously sweet milestone crossing the Rs 530 crore revenue mark in just two full years of operations. The fast-growing Indian ice cream and indulgence brand announced it has raised Rs 100 crore in fresh capital led by Sauce.vc. The round values the company at Rs 2,500 crore pre-money and underscores investor confidence in its rapid scale and distinctive India-first approach.
Founder Ankit Chona said the brand’s success stems from solving real Indian challenges extreme summer heat, fragmented cold chains and culturally rooted tastes. “In India, product development doesn’t end in the lab. It only ends when it survives the street,” he noted. This philosophy has produced viral hits such as Aamchi mango ice cream, BIX cake-sponge sandwiches, the Oh cone and culturally relevant collaborations like Haldiram’s Barfi and festive Modak specials.
Hocco currently operates manufacturing facilities in Ahmedabad and Panipat with a production capacity of approximately 3 lakh litres per day, running near full capacity in peak season. The fresh capital will help expand this to around 4.5 lakh litres per day.
Quick commerce has emerged as a major growth engine, now contributing ~20 per cent of overall business and growing nearly 2x year-on-year. The channel has boosted product discovery, increased consumption frequency and helped extend ice cream beyond its traditional seasonal limits.
Sauce.vc founder Manu Chandra said, “At Sauce, we believe that when you chance upon an outlier business, you double down with stronger conviction. We see Hocco as just that.”
With a strong innovation pipeline, deeper distribution and continued focus on cultural relevance, Hocco is entering its third year aiming to capture even more mind space and market share. In a category long dominated by legacy players, this young brand is proving that the coolest way to win is to build for India’s realities, one scoop, one street and one satisfied craving at a time.
