Brands
Kalyan Jewellers eyes 30% topline growth to Rs 13,000 crore; plans expansion
MUMBAI: Kalyan Jewellers, which was recently in the eye of the storm with its racist ad featuring brand ambassador Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, has recovered quickly from the controversy and is going full throttle with its expansion plans.
While eyeing a growth of 30 per cent in its topline to Rs 13,000 crore, the company is also looking at enhancing the distribution network by 30 per cent in the year.
The jewellery maker is looking to expand its operations with an investment of Rs 175 crores. As a first step, the company has opened four new outlets across India with its first showroom launch in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, followed by two showrooms in Gurgaon and Noida. With the two new showrooms in Gurgaon and Noida, Kalyan Jewellers will now have a total of five exclusive showrooms in the NCR region and a total of nine showrooms in North India including Jalandhar and Amritsar.
Kalyan Jewellers, which has been present in the UAE since 2013, is also strengthening its presence by adding a new showroom, marking the tenth for the company in the UAE. Continuing on this aggressive expansion drive, Kalyan Jewellers is planning to set up 22 showrooms this fiscal year, of which nine will be in the Gulf region. Plans are also afoot to launch six showrooms in Qatar.
The company, which has a network of 79 exclusive showrooms in India and West Asia, is targeting 100 showrooms by the end of the year.
Kalyan Jewellers is also in the process of converting its 570 customer service centres into mini ‘My Kalyan’ stores, which will focus on selling affordable diamonds to capitalise on the potential of this category.
Kalyan Jewellers chairman and managing director T.S. Kalyanaraman said, “Jewellery consumption in the Indian market is increasing due to positive consumer sentiment and stable prices, and we want to tap into this growth. Funding of the expansion plans will be met through the funds we have received from the private equity investment as well as from internal accruals and bank borrowings. We are targeting 30 per cent growth in topline to Rs 13,000 crore and enhancing the distribution network by 30 per cent in the year. We are also ramping up our manufacturing operations and plan to have India’s biggest production house by 2017.”
The company recently also launched a gold and diamond jewellery collection at its Chennai store with an investment of Rs 200 crores, making it was the single largest investment by any jeweller in a single showroom across the country.
Brands
Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen to step down after 18 years in role
Board begins CEO search as Narayen prepares to move to chair role
SAN JOSE: After nearly two decades at the helm, Adobe’s long-serving chief executive Shantanu Narayen is preparing to pass the baton.
The company announced that Narayen will transition from his role as chief executive officer once a successor is appointed, ending an 18-year run that reshaped Adobe from a boxed software seller into a global cloud and AI powerhouse. He will remain chair of the board following the leadership transition.
Adobe’s board has formed a special committee to oversee the succession process, led by lead independent director Frank Calderoni. The committee will evaluate both internal and external candidates.
“Shantanu’s leadership has been instrumental in Adobe’s transformation and in positioning the company for the AI-driven era,” Calderoni said in a statement. “As we begin the next phase of succession planning, our focus is on identifying the right leader for the company’s next chapter while ensuring a smooth transition.”
In a note to employees, Narayen described the moment not as a farewell but as a pause for reflection after a long journey with the company.
“I love Adobe and the privilege of leading it has been the greatest honour of my career,” he wrote, adding that he will continue to work closely with the board over the coming months to ensure a seamless leadership change.
Tributes from the technology industry quickly followed the announcement. Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella congratulated Narayen on what he described as a “legendary run” at Adobe.
“Congrats Shantanu, on a legendary run at Adobe! You’ve built one of the most important software companies in the world, and expanded what’s possible for creators, entrepreneurs, and brands everywhere,” Nadella wrote on LinkedIn.
“What has always stood out to me is the empathy you’ve brought to the creative process and the example you’ve set as a leader. Grateful for your friendship, mentorship, and for all you’ve done for Adobe and for our industry.”
Narayen’s career at Adobe spans nearly three decades. He joined the company in 1998 as vice president and rose steadily through the ranks before becoming chief executive officer in December 2007.
During that time, he orchestrated one of the most significant reinventions in the software industry. In 2013, Adobe made the bold decision to abandon traditional boxed software sales and move its flagship creative tools such as Photoshop to a subscription-based Creative Cloud model. The shift initially rattled investors but ultimately transformed Adobe into a predictable recurring revenue business and a case study in digital reinvention.
Narayen also pushed Adobe beyond creative tools into the world of marketing technology and data-driven customer experience, spearheading acquisitions such as Omniture and Marketo. Those moves helped build Adobe’s digital experience division and broaden its reach far beyond designers and photographers.
The numbers tell the story of that transformation. When Narayen took over in 2007, Adobe generated roughly $3 billion in annual revenue. Today the company reports more than $25 billion. Over the same period, its workforce expanded from around 3,000 employees to more than 30,000.
In recent years, Narayen has steered Adobe into the generative AI era with the launch of Adobe Firefly, aiming to keep the company ahead in a rapidly evolving creative technology landscape.
Born in Hyderabad in 1963, Narayen studied electronics and communication engineering at Osmania University before moving to the United States for a master’s degree in computer science from Bowling Green State University. He later earned an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
Widely regarded as one of Silicon Valley’s most steady and effective leaders, Narayen has earned multiple honours during his career, including India’s Padma Shri in 2019.
For Adobe, the upcoming leadership change marks the end of a defining chapter. For Narayen, however, the story is far from finished. As he told employees, the company’s next era of creativity, powered by AI and new digital workflows, is only just beginning.
