Brands
Mars snacking names Chinmay Kelkar as Asia media and integrated ecosystem director
Cannes-winning strategist and WPP veteran takes charge of media across key Asian markets
VIRGINIA: Mars has appointed Chinmay Kelkar as Asia media and integrated ecosystem director for its snacking division, handing a sprawling regional mandate to a planner known for mixing data rigour with creative firepower.
Kelkar moves to the role in Singapore after a rapid senior run at WPP Media and EssenceMediacom, where he handled regional clients and transformation briefs across Asia-Pacific. His remit at Mars spans media strategy and integrated ecosystem planning in some of the world’s most complex and competitive consumer markets.
A Cannes winner, Kelkar has been named among IMPACT’s top 30 future leaders of Indian advertising and was earlier singled out as a rising star on WPP’s global Team Procter & Gamble. His career has zigzagged across China, India and wider APAC, covering categories as varied as B2B, sports, telecoms, automobiles and FMCG.
Before Mars, Kelkar served briefly as svp, regional clients at WPP Media. He also spent over four years at EssenceMediacom in Singapore as head of transformation and regional business lead, focusing on capability-building and cross-market integration. Earlier roles at Mediabrands saw him spearhead the ExxonMobil business across 11 Asia-Pacific and Oceania markets, leading cross-functional teams spanning planning, buying and ad operations while chasing incremental growth.
A long China stint with MediaCom sharpened his reputation as a sales-driven strategist. As planning director on Team P&G China, he oversaw media strategy, communications planning and end-to-end e-commerce store management for grooming brands across Shanghai and Guangzhou. Campaigns under his watch delivered 66 per cent higher media-led sales for Gillette at 19 per cent lower budgets. Braun achieved sales at 238 IYA, while Gillette reached 184 IYA through offtake-led e-commerce planning and flagship-store management.
Kelkar also helped build P&G China’s first live media command centre and created what is billed as China’s first branded VR e-commerce experience for Gillette. Earlier, he drove adoption of MediaCom’s 20/20 framework aimed at delivering 20 per cent more effectiveness at 20 per cent better efficiency.
His career began in India with Lodestar Universal, where he planned telecoms and automobile campaigns for some of the country’s biggest advertisers, winning a silver Emvie for Tata Photon in 2010 and a bronze Emvie in 2011 for Tata Nano.
Kelkar describes himself as someone who enjoys “creating order out of chaos” and pushing business outcomes to the front of media thinking. He relishes pitches, product launches and the heat of competitive briefs. On weekends, he swaps dashboards for joysticks as a compulsive gamer and amateur video-game reviewer.
For Mars, the hire adds a strategist steeped in scale, performance and experimentation. For the region’s media market, it is another sign that global advertisers want leaders who can stitch together commerce, content and communications. In Asia’s high-speed attention economy, Kelkar’s brief is simple to state and hard to execute: turn complexity into advantage—and do it at scale.
Brands
Eternal posts Rs 54,364 crore revenue, up 168 per cent in FY26
Q4 profit rises to Rs 174 crore as firm streamlines District business
NEW DELHI: Eternal Limited reported a sharp surge in scale for FY26, with consolidated revenue rising 168 per cent year-on-year to Rs 54,364 crore, underscoring strong growth across its core businesses.
The company’s growth was mirrored in its bottom line, with a total annual profit of Rs 366 crore. The fourth quarter was particularly strong, contributing Rs 17,292 crore in revenue and Rs 174 crore in profit, a sharp rise compared to the Rs 39 crore profit recorded in the same period last year.
Key financial metrics from the report include:
- Total assets: Increased to Rs 40,736 crore from last year’s Rs 35,623 crore.
- Delivery charges: The company collected Rs 9,065 crore in delivery and related charges over the year.
- Employee costs: Staffing and benefit expenses amounted to Rs 3,536 crore.
- Liquidity: The firm maintains a cash balance of Rs 996 crore, supported by Rs 632 crore generated from operating activities.
On the strategic front, the company has approved the transfer of its District platform’s technology stack to its wholly owned subsidiary, Wasteland Entertainment Private Limited. The deal, valued at Rs 24.19 crore, will be completed in cash and is expected to close by May 1, 2026, along with the transition of select employees. The move is aimed at consolidating its entertainment and ticketing operations under a focused entity.
From a regulatory standpoint, statutory auditors Deloitte Haskins & Sells issued an unmodified opinion on the financial results. However, they flagged an ongoing show cause notice related to GST on delivery charges, which the company continues to contest, citing a strong legal position.
With robust revenue growth and ongoing structural tweaks, Eternal is clearly sharpening its playbook as it expands beyond its core into a broader consumer services ecosystem.
