MAM
JioHotstar hires top tech leaders to boost AI-powered streaming
Senior leaders from Google, Flipkart, CRED and others join as platform bets on personalisation and scale
MUMBAI: JioHotstar is bulking up its technology muscle, snapping up senior talent from Google, Flipkart, Amazon Pay, CRED and other consumer-tech names as it pivots towards AI-driven, personalised streaming at scale. The hiring spree signals a clear shift: the streaming wars are no longer just about content, but about intelligence, discovery and monetisation.
The platform said it is strengthening product leadership and engineering depth to build what it calls the next phase of “intelligent, personalised streaming”. The new team spans discovery, viewer experience, marketing intelligence, adtech and platform engineering, areas increasingly critical as competition intensifies.
Among the key hires, Shrinivas SG joins as svp for discovery and personalisation. Previously at Flipkart, Shrinivas SG worked across search, catalogue and trends, and helped build GenAI-powered conversational commerce with a focus on vernacular, voice and video-led discovery.
Naveen Prashanth comes in as svp for consumer marketing from Google, where he led YouTube Shorts, creator and artist marketing in India, driving brand, performance and monetisation at scale. Earlier, he worked at McKinsey & Company advising FMCG and B2C firms on growth and transformation.
On the engineering side, Abhishek Sharan joins as svp for engineering, viewer experience. With over 15 years’ experience, he has built and scaled high-traffic consumer platforms across the Flipkart group and Myntra, working on search, recommendations, applications, advertising systems and trust and safety. Most recently, he was head of engineering at SuperMoney.
Adtech gets a boost with Abhishek Varshney as principal engineer. He arrives from CRED after nearly five years building payments, ordering and financial engineering products. His earlier stints include Razorpay and Flipkart, where he worked on application and infrastructure platforms.
The wider product and engineering bench is reinforced by Chandramauli Singh and Nishant Paliwal, from ShareChat and Cleartrip respectively, bringing expertise in recommendation systems, scalable architectures and user engagement frameworks. Chandramauli Singh also joins the product team.
The data backbone is being tightened too. David Zakkam had earlier joined to lead analytics and data strategy, pushing data-led decision-making across the platform. The latest appointments were shared internally, underlining a sustained focus on tech capability.
At the group level, JioStar recently brought in Emmy Award-winner Stephen Bugaj as svp for GenAI content and technology, with a mandate spanning intelligent content pipelines, interactive storytelling and scalable creative frameworks.
Scale is already on JioHotstar’s side. The platform claims 450 million monthly average users and a library exceeding 300,000 hours of programming across 19 languages, covering films, originals, live sport, events, anime, kids’ content and shows from more than 100 JioStar channels.
As streaming matures, the battleground is shifting from who has the most titles to who knows the viewer best. JioHotstar’s message is blunt: in the attention economy, algorithms are as important as actors. And the next big hits may be coded as much as they are created.
MAM
Manappuram Finance appoints Sreekanth P V as group head – operations
22-year veteran from Bajaj Finance to drive efficiency and customer experience.
MUMBAI: Manappuram Finance just upgraded its operations engine because when customer delight needs turbocharging, even the gold loans get a smoother ride. Manappuram Finance Ltd has appointed industry veteran Sreekanth P V as group head for operations & customer experience at the grade of president. In his new role, Sreekanth will lead efforts to strengthen operational efficiency, enhance customer experience, streamline processes, drive service innovation and scale the company’s digital ecosystems across all business verticals.
Sreekanth brings over 22 years of experience in operations management, digital platforms, product innovation and customer experience within the financial services sector. Most recently he served as deputy executive vice president for digital platforms at Bajaj Finance Ltd, where he led the development of a unified app and web platform strategy and built a cohesive digital ecosystem.
Manappuram Finance, chairman and managing director V. P. Nandakumar said, “We are pleased to welcome Mr Sreekanth P V to the leadership team. He brings extensive experience in operations management, digital platforms and customer experience. As we continue to strengthen our operational capabilities and enhance customer engagement, his expertise will play an important role in driving efficiency, innovation and service excellence across the organisation.”
The appointment reflects Manappuram Finance’s ongoing focus on building a stronger leadership bench and elevating operational standards as the company scales its lending and customer engagement capabilities.
In a sector where every rupee counts twice, Sreekanth isn’t just joining the team, he’s the new conductor making sure the entire orchestra of loans, digital flows and customer smiles stays perfectly in tune.
