Brands
PeakAmp names Aditya Prakash and Akhil Yerawar as co-founders
Leadership expansion sharpens focus on India’s battery circular economy
GURUGRAM: PeakAmp, a young company tackling one of the electric vehicle sector’s messiest problems, has strengthened its leadership bench with two co-founder appointments as it gears up to scale its battery recycling ambitions.
The company has elevated Aditya Prakash to co-founder and appointed Akhil Yerawar as co-founder and chief strategy officer, signalling a sharper push towards building what it calls India’s most trusted end-of-life battery management platform.
Founded in 2024 by Vijay Gond and Aditya Sudhanshu, PeakAmp is developing a full-stack, technology-led system to collect, sort and recycle lithium-ion batteries. Its model spans everything from safe collection and segregation to second-life repurposing and high-purity material recovery. The goal is simple in theory but complex in practice: ensure that yesterday’s EV batteries power tomorrow’s progress instead of piling up as hazardous waste.
Yerawar, an IIM Raipur gold medallist with over a decade of experience across green energy, consulting, banking and consumer sectors, will steer strategic growth, investor relations, government partnerships and the commercial roadmap for second-life battery applications. His brief is to ensure the business scales in step with India’s rapidly expanding EV market.
Prakash, who has been part of PeakAmp’s journey from the early days, brings hands-on experience in battery recycling operations, circular supply chains and sustainability initiatives. As co-founder, he will oversee overall strategy and operations, focusing on expanding supply-chain networks, strengthening ecosystem partnerships and driving operational rigour across the battery lifecycle.
“I’m excited to step into this role at a pivotal time for both PeakAmp and India’s EV ecosystem,” said Prakash. “As electric mobility scales, reliable and compliant after-life solutions for batteries become essential. Our focus is to ensure every end-of-life battery is channelled back into productive use.”
Yerawar added, “India’s clean energy transition will only succeed if circular solutions keep pace with growth. By combining disciplined execution with commercially viable models, we aim to scale alongside the country’s EV momentum.”
India’s EV market is expected to expand rapidly over the next decade, bringing with it a wave of spent batteries. Industry estimates suggest recycling capacity may struggle to keep up with future demand. PeakAmp believes its integrated model, which includes diagnostics-led second-life deployment and material recovery of more than 99 per cent purity, can help close that gap.
With a broader founding team now in place, the company plans to deepen partnerships with OEMs, mobility operators and battery manufacturers, while investing further in technology for traceability, compliance and efficient resource recovery.
In a sector where power is everything, PeakAmp is betting that stronger leadership will keep the current flowing.
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.
