Metro Brands elevates Meenakshi Samantaray to VP– sports marketing & visual merchandising

MUMBAI: Metro Brands Limited has handed its sports business to the woman who built it. Meenakshi Samantaray has been elevated to vice president – sports marketing and visual merchandising, capping a whirlwind two years in which she stood up the company’s sports division from scratch.

The promotion is no formality. Since summer 2024, Samantaray has driven the launch of Foot Locker and New Era Cap in India, repositioned FILA within the athleisure category, and grown MetroActiv into a genuine community play around sport and culture rather than just another retail line. Same-store growth and full P&L accountability for the sports brands have sat on her desk throughout.

She arrives at the milestone with 14 years of brand-building behind her, spanning retail, FMCG, manufacturing, and media and entertainment. Her CV takes in Hindustan Unilever, Future Group and ACC Cements before a near five-year run at Zee Entertainment, where she rose to vice president of marketing and communications and ran PR and marketing for properties including the International League T20, working alongside the Emirates Cricket Board and its six franchises.

At Metro Brands, that range has translated into building an ecosystem around sneakerheads, fashion enthusiasts and active athletes alike, knitting together content, CRM and loyalty programmes, activations and brand collaborations into one coherent push. Samantaray credits mentors Nissan Joseph and Alisha Malik for pushing her to think bigger, and points squarely at her team, Roshni Nair, Kopal Kejriwal, Salman Rangwala, Neha Parmar and Nadim, as the engine behind every launch and late night that got the division here.

With the foundations now laid, Samantaray’s brief widens further: building brands that, in her words, do not just sell products but create culture. With Metro Brands’ sports stable growing fast, the next chapter looks set to move at just as brisk a pace.