Brands
Octanom Tech names COO, family office head, opens Mumbai office
Leadership hires and new base signal push into family offices
MUMBAI: Octanom Tech has refreshed its leadership bench and planted a new flag in India’s financial capital, appointing Rajesh Vora as chief operating officer and Khushal Devera as head of family office, alongside the opening of its fourth office in Mumbai.
The twin appointments are part of the WealthTech firm’s broader play to scale nationwide and deepen its relationships with family offices, a segment that continues to grow in size and sophistication.
Octanom Tech and Hedged.in, MD and CEO, Rahul Ghose, said the new hires arrive at a pivotal moment. He noted that their experience would help the company quicken its growth pace while sharpening the value it delivers to clients across the country. He also described the Mumbai expansion as a strategic step in strengthening the firm’s presence in key markets.
Vora steps in with more than three decades of experience across capital markets. A gold medallist in MBA finance and an engineering graduate, he previously served as director and business head at Sharekhan.com India. In his new role, he will focus on operational efficiency, innovation and scalable growth, with an eye on keeping the firm’s client-first philosophy intact.
Devera, a CFP with a background in statistics and an MBA in finance, will lead the company’s family office division. With over 17 years of experience working alongside leadership teams at major financial institutions, he is expected to shape data-led, strategic solutions for high net worth families seeking structured and forward-looking wealth strategies.
With the new Mumbai office, Octanom Tech now operates from four locations across India, offering hedged-style, risk-conscious investment products for ultra high net worth individuals and families. The company was also named WealthTech of the Year in both 2024 and 2025, signalling growing industry recognition as it scales its ambitions.
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.
