Brands
Mangaldeep by ITC enhances celebrations at Lord Ram Temple in Ayodhya with Khushboo Path
Mumbai: On the momentous inauguration of the Lord Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on the 22 of this month, Mangaldeep, ITC’s Agarbatti brand, is spearheading a series of initiatives to actively be a part of and enrich the celebrations of devotees during the inauguration and beyond. Mangaldeep has joined hands with the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra to implement various initiatives in honour of the proud occasion – Nutan Vigrah Pran Prathisthra of Shri Ram Lallaji.
As part of the association Mangaldeep has donated its flagship dhoop, the “Mangaldeep 3 in 1 Dhoop,” for six months from the Temple’s opening date. This gesture aims to facilitate the daily puja rituals for the pandits, ensuring a seamless and aromatic devotional experience.
On the day of the inauguration, Mangaldeep will be enhancing the devotees’ spiritual experience by installing a unique “Khushboo Path” within the Temple premises. This fragrant corridor, adorned with 5-foot tall agarbattis, has been meticulously crafted to diffuse the auspicious fragrance of Mangaldeep agarbatti throughout the Temple. Visitors passing through these corridors will be immersed in the pure and divine aroma of the agarbatti, providing them with a truly uplifting and spiritual experience during their Temple visit.
Two agarbatti stands have also been installed at ‘Ram Ki Phedi’ where devotees can light incense sticks and offer their prayers to Lord Ram. Mangaldeep has also provided platforms for Pujaris at river ghats as well as pooja outlets, hawker setups and umbrellas for shade in the markets of Ayodhya. To facilitate the management of large crowds and ensure a smooth flow of devotees, Mangaldeep will be also providing 300 barricades at the main Temple and over 100 barricades at the Temple entrance.
Speaking about Mangaldeep’s initiatives in the run-up to the inauguration of the Lord Ram Temple, ITC’s Agarbatti Business chief executive Gaurav Tayal said “For us at Mangaldeep, it is indeed an honour to be a part of this historic and sacred event. Our mission is to serve as the enablers of devotion in Temples as well as at devotees’ homes. We are fully committed to ensuring a harmonious and enriching experience for all those participating in the festivities of the Ayodhya Lord Ram Temple. We express our sincere gratitude to the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra for entrusting us with the opportunity to serve the devotees.”
For the grand inauguration, Mangaldeep initiated the “Mangal Aarambh” campaign, the objective of which was to empower and train the key stakeholders in Ayodhya—priests, shopkeepers, and hotel owners—who play pivotal roles in welcoming devotees, both from within India and abroad.
This comprehensive campaign comprised five rounds of Sabhas, focusing on crucial themes such as tourism packages, pooja variants, product knowledge and storytelling. Through these sessions, a total of 490 participants were meticulously trained to become proficient guides, pujaris, hawkers and caretakers. Their expertise is geared towards providing an enriching and beautiful experience to visitors to the pious city of Ayodhya.
The inauguration of the Ayodhya Ram Mandir on 22 January will indeed mark a momentous occasion for devotees, establishing it as one of the most significant pilgrimage sites in India. The Temple is anticipated to emerge as a major religious and cultural centre, attracting millions of devotees from India and around the world. ITC’s incense stick brand Mangaldeep is honoured to be a participant in this auspicious beginning.
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.
