Brands
Ola Electric names Deepak Rastogi CFO as Harish Abichandani bows out
MUMBAI: Ola Electric has appointed Deepak Rastogi as chief financial officer, ushering in a new finance chief as Harish Abichandani exits the electric two-wheeler maker.
The appointment, approved by the board and disclosed in an exchange filing on January 19, takes effect from January 20, 2026. Rastogi will also serve as key managerial personnel and join the company’s senior management team. Abichandani stepped down citing personal reasons, with his resignation effective January 19.
Rastogi joins Ola Electric from real estate developer Puravankara Limited, where he was group CFO. He brings more than two decades of experience across manufacturing, chemicals, auto components and infrastructure, with deep exposure to large, complex balance sheets.
His career began at Raymond Synthetics as assistant manager, accounts, followed by roles at Castrol and DuPont. He later moved to Alcatel-Lucent as head of finance before joining The Timken Company, where he rose from CFO for India to CFO for Asia, overseeing finance, planning, fund-raising, taxation, risk management, compliance and M&A, while driving EBIT improvement and shareholder value.
Rastogi subsequently served as president and group CFO at Tata Autocomp Systems and later at Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals, cementing his reputation as a turnaround-focused finance leader.
The appointment comes at a critical juncture for Ola Electric as it sharpens its focus on scale, margins and governance. With a heavyweight CFO in the saddle and a clean handover at the top, the EV maker is signalling that the next phase will be less about speed and more about financial discipline.
Brands
PeopleStrong appoints Adishri Charla SVP marketing to drive global growth
Former UiPath marketing head to scale brand, demand and expansion across regions
NEW DELHI: PeopleStrong has brought in marketing heavyweight Adishri Charla as senior vice president, marketing, tasking her with sharpening the company’s global brand and fuelling its next phase of growth.
Charla steps in with nearly two decades of B2B marketing experience across both fast-moving start-ups and global technology giants. She joins from UiPath, where she served most recently as director and head of marketing for India and Saarc, playing a key role in the automation firm’s rise to category leadership in the region. Her work there ranged from revenue-driven marketing strategies to building strong customer and community engagement programmes.
At PeopleStrong, Charla will oversee global brand strategy, demand generation and customer engagement as the HR tech firm expands across India, Asia, the Middle East and other emerging markets.
CEO Sandeep Chaudhary said the company was looking for a leader who could connect brand storytelling with measurable business outcomes. “Adishri brings global marketing experience and strong team leadership. We are confident she will help sharpen our positioning and support our next phase of expansion,” he said.
Charla previously held marketing roles at Oracle India and IBM India, working across cloud, systems and product marketing. An MBA graduate from Symbiosis Centre for Management and HR Development, she has also completed executive programmes at Columbia Business School and ISB.
Sharing her excitement about the move, Charla said PeopleStrong has the potential to reshape how organisations across the region think about HR technology. She added that her focus will be on building stronger brand connections while driving measurable business impact.
Backed by Goldman Sachs Alternatives, PeopleStrong today serves more than 500 enterprises and has won several industry recognitions, including honours at the ET Human Capital Awards and the People Matters Infini-T Awards. Charla’s appointment signals the company’s intent to strengthen leadership as it scales its global ambitions.
