Brands
Nilesh Gupta to handle additional charge of branding and creative strategy at Meesho
Mumbai: Meesho announced on Friday that senior director of growth Nilesh Gupta, who has been leading the company’s activation and acquisition arm for the past two years, will now be handling branding and creative services for the company as well.
Gupta will be in charge of the team that manages brand building and creative strategy, as well as acquisition and activation at Meesho. His expertise in growth & marketing strategy, business analytics, and deep user understanding has greatly contributed to the company’s growth over the past few years. Under his leadership, Meesho became the most downloaded e-commerce application in the world.
Prior to joining Meesho in 2021, Nilesh was with Kearney, where he primarily worked on the consumer and retail practice, including co-authoring a report with CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) to help unlock the full potential of retail growth in India.
“Nilesh is strongly aligned with Meesho’s mission to “democratise e-commerce for everyone” and passionate about solving for Bharat,” said Meesho CXO of growth Megha Agarwal. “His experience in the arenas of acquisition and activation combined with retail will help contribute immensely to Meesho’s accelerated growth. As we further our mission to democratise e-commerce for everybody and bring the next billion users online, user growth will be a key area of focus for us.”
Gupta strongly believes that Meesho has challenged conventions in the Indian e-commerce landscape. He adds, “Meesho has made significant strides towards democratising e-commerce in India, and I have been fortunate to witness this 10X growth firsthand over the last two years. I am thrilled to take up the branding and creative mandate in addition to my current responsibilities at Meesho. We have a clear vision and will continue to innovate to become India’s preferred e-commerce destination.”
Brands
Dunkin’ Donuts to exit India as Jubilant FoodWorks ends 15-year franchise deal
The quick service restaurant giant is ending a 15-year franchise partnership with the American doughnut chain, even as it renews its Domino’s agreement for another 15 years
NOIDA: Dunkin’ is done in India. Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, the country’s leading quick service restaurant operator, has decided not to renew its franchise agreement with the American coffee and doughnut chain, and will wind down its Indian stores in a phased manner before December 31, 2026, bringing a 15-year partnership to a quiet, loss-laden close.
The decision, approved by JFL’s board on March 30, 2026, ends a relationship that began with a Multiple Unit Development Franchise Agreement signed on February 24, 2011. JFL will now evaluate and undertake what it described in a regulatory filing as the “rationalisation and/or cessation of certain operations and/or sale, transfer or disposal of assets and/or assignment or transfer of franchise rights,” all in consultation with Dunkin’s brand owners and strictly within the terms of the original agreement.
The numbers tell the story bluntly. In the financial year 2024-25, Dunkin’ India posted a revenue of Rs 37 crore against a loss of Rs 19 crore — a haemorrhage that was always going to test the patience of a parent company recording revenues of Rs 6,104 crore and a profit of Rs 194 crore in the same period. Doughnuts, it turns out, were never going to move the needle.
The contrast with JFL’s handling of its other marquee franchise could hardly be sharper. Even as it walks away from Dunkin’, the company has just doubled down on Domino’s, signing a fresh Master Franchise Agreement on March 31, 2026, granting it exclusive rights to develop and operate Domino’s Pizza stores in India for 15 years, with an option to renew for a further 10.
JFL, incorporated in 1995 and promoted by the Bharatia family, operates a network of more than 3,500 stores across six markets — India, Turkey, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Its portfolio includes Domino’s and Popeyes on the global side, and two home-grown brands: Hong’s Kitchen and COFFY, a café brand in Turkey.
For Dunkin’, India was always a stretch. The brand never quite cracked the cultural code in a market where filter coffee and chai command fierce loyalty and where the doughnut remains, at best, an occasional indulgence rather than a daily habit. Fifteen years, mounting losses and a parent with better things to spend its capital on was always going to be a difficult equation to solve.
The doughnut has had its last day. The pizza, however, is staying.
