Brands
Marico Q3 results: Rs 447 crore net profit, 27 per cent revenue surge
MUMBAI: Marico Limited delivered a bravura performance in the third quarter of 2026, reporting a 27 per cent year-on-year jump in consolidated revenue to Rs 3,537 crore. The FMCG giant saw its India business grow by 27 per cent, bolstered by price hikes across core portfolios to offset stubborn inflation in raw materials. International markets kept pace with 21 per cent constant currency growth, led by a sharp 29 per cent rise in Bangladesh.
The quarter was marked by a major strategic move: on 26 January, Marico announced a definitive agreement to invest in Zea Maize, the parent company of premium gourmet snacking brand 4700BC. This follows the company’s aggressive diversification strategy, aiming to grow its food segment to eight times its 2020 revenue by 2027.
The domestic business, which pulled in Rs 2,681 crore, was buoyed by price hikes and a shift toward e-commerce and “quick commerce”. While higher input costs squeezed year-on-year gross margins, a recent dip in copra prices offered some relief. Value-added hair oils (vaho) were particularly slick, growing by 29 per cent.
While gross margins remained under year-on-year pressure due to high input costs, the company reported a 12 per cent rise in profit after tax to Rs 447 crore. Marico managing director and chief executive Saugata Gupta, noted that the firm remains “on track” to deliver over 25 per cent revenue growth for the full year as input pressures begin to subside.
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.
