MAM
Kaff Appliances brings Nalin Kumar on board as COO to cook up its next growth recipe
MUMBAI: Leadership changes are usually corporate chess moves. But when the boardroom gets a seasoned operator with two decades of industry firepower, it’s more of a powerplay. Kaff Appliances, the premium kitchen appliance brand with a strong foothold in Indian homes, has appointed Nalin Kumar as its chief operating officer to stir up strategy, scale, and sizzle.
The New Delhi-based firm made the announcement this April, citing Kumar’s rich legacy in consumer durables and electronics—and his knack for turning operations into well-oiled machines. In his new role, Kumar will run point on streamlining Kaff’s national operations, while sharpening customer and partner experiences across metros and tier two towns alike.
“We are delighted to welcome Nalin Kumar to the Kaff leadership team. His deep industry knowledge and sharp operational acumen make him an ideal fit to lead our business into its next phase of growth,” said a company spokesperson.
Kumar has held senior roles at several top-tier appliance brands and has earned stripes in GTM strategy, channel expansion, and operational execution. Translation? He’s navigated market chaos, won channel loyalty, and survived product launches that probably gave other execs ulcers.
“I’m excited to be part of Kaff’s journey at such a pivotal time. The brand has a strong legacy in the Indian kitchen appliance market, and I look forward to working with the team to build on that momentum and deliver meaningful value to our customers and partners,” Kumar said.
His appointment comes at a time when Kaff is sharpening its product portfolio, doubling down on innovation, and extending its urban charm to India’s rapidly digitising small-town shoppers. Insiders suggest that Kumar’s onboarding signals a laser focus on operational finesse and agility across functions.
At a time when the kitchen is becoming smarter, sleeker, and sassier, Kaff’s move to install a COO with hands-on retail and ops firepower is no coincidence.
The appliances may be plug-and-play, but growing a legacy brand in a hyper-competitive market? That takes more than a timer and auto-clean tech.
AD Agencies
Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
