Brands
Kalyan Jewellers wins big at Retail Jeweller MD & CEO Awards
Mumbai: Kalyan Jewellers, one of India’s largest and most trusted jewellery brands, was honoured at the Retail Jeweller MD & CEO Awards, receiving accolades for ‘Exemplary Value Creation for Shareholders’ and ‘Best Strategic and Integrated Marketing of the Year.’
Recognised on one of the industry’s oldest and most esteemed platforms, these awards underscore Kalyan Jewellers’ unwavering dedication to excellence and innovation. The recent edition of the awards ceremony, held at JW Marriott Sahar in Mumbai, saw the attendance of business leaders and dignitaries from India’s jewellery industry.
Kalyan Jewellers earned the ‘Exemplary Value Creation for Shareholders’ award, highlighting its commitment to financial prudence and delivering sustained returns for investors throughout 2023. This achievement is attributed to consistent revenue growth and substantial gains in market share, acknowledging the company’s strategy for sustained growth in a capital-efficient manner.
Additionally, Kalyan Jewellers was honoured with the ‘Best Strategic and Integrated Marketing of the Year’ for its outstanding campaigns. These campaigns leveraged hyper-local festivals like Chhath Puja, Durga Pujo, Pongal, etc., along with region-agnostic celebrations like Diwali, Independence Day, Teacher’s Day, etc. Whether paying tribute to the country’s armed forces through the iconic Independence Day campaign or capturing the emotional bond shared by families in its star-studded Diwali campaign, the brand has consistently demonstrated a remarkable commitment to engaging with its audience. Taking a distinctive approach, Kalyan Jewellers went beyond traditional festivals, strategically launching impactful campaigns on key observance days.
Kalyan Jewellers India Ltd executive director Rajesh Kalyanaraman said, “We are honoured to receive these prestigious awards, which stand as a testament to our team’s hard work, dedication, and strategic vision throughout 2023. Our commitment to delivering exceptional value to both customers and shareholders remains steadfast as we embark on this next phase of the growth journey. These accolades inspire us to continue pushing boundaries and setting new benchmarks in India’s jewellery industry.”
Brands
Rakesh Menon joins Paytm as avp – lending
Fintech product leader takes on new role after building digital lending, payments and credit products across fintech ecosystem
MUMBAI: Rakesh Menon has joined Paytm as assistant vice president – lending, taking on a new role focused on strengthening the company’s lending and credit products.
Prior to this, Menon worked at Profectus Capital Pvt Ltd as chief manager – payments based financing and digital lending.
At Profectus, he designed and launched digital credit products for merchants with variable cash flows, including overdraft-linked and revenue-share lending models. He led end-to-end LOS–LMS API integrations with payment partners and aggregators, enabling real-time underwriting, disbursal and repayment workflows.
He also worked on funnel optimisation initiatives using journey analytics, improving onboarding, KYC and disbursal conversion by 35 per cent. He developed ecosystem partnerships for transaction-data-based credit assessment and automated settlement systems, and collaborated with credit and data science teams to strengthen risk models and early delinquency detection.
Menon standardised partner onboarding and API frameworks, reducing go-live timelines by 40 per cent and improving digital scalability.
Before Profectus Capital, he worked at PayU as senior manager – presales lead – enterprise business from August 2022 to August 2023. He set up a national presales function for fintech and digital commerce clients, aligning solutions such as EMI, BNPL, BBPS and offer engines to merchant requirements.
He also helped improve conversion rates by around 15 per cent through merchant persona mapping, demo frameworks and structured sales playbooks, working closely with product and go-to-market teams.
From April 2019 to July 2022, Menon served as business unit head – SMB – direct acquisitions at Worldline, where he built the SMB online payments vertical from scratch. The business scaled to Rs 2,500 crore in annual transaction volume, growing at 45 per cent year-on-year.
During this period, he introduced paperless onboarding processes including eKYC and eSign, developed partner dashboards and CRM automation systems, and integrated platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce and Tally to expand merchant adoption.
Across roles, Menon has worked across digital lending, payments and merchant financing, with experience in product development, ecosystem partnerships, API integrations and fintech-led growth strategies.
At Paytm, he will focus on scaling lending products and strengthening digital credit infrastructure within the company’s financial services ecosystem.
His appointment comes as fintech firms continue to expand their lending and embedded finance offerings in a competitive market.
