MAM
Perfetti Van Melle India appoints Rajesh Ramakrishnan as MD
MUMBAI: Leading confectionery player Pertfetti Van Melle India has recently appointed Rajesh Ramakrishnan as the new MD of the company. Ramakrishnan will replace Ramesh Jayaraman who has moved to another role within the group.
In his new role he will be responsible for the operations of the company for India and Nepal.
Ramakrishnan joined Perfetti Van Melle in 2014 as a managing director for Bangladesh. Under his leadership, Perfetti Van Melle, Bangladesh delivered sustained growth and achieved market leadership in 2016. In August 2017, Rajesh moved to India as the chief transformation officer. As the CTO, he worked with the business teams in strategising and delivering the key elements of the business transformation project to drive topline and bottomline growth.
Perfetti Van Melle president Huub Sanders said, “Rajesh is an accomplished leader, who brings in a good mix of strategic thinking and operational excellence, with strong leadership skills. We are delighted to have him as our India head and wish him all the very best in his new role.”
Ramakrishnan brings with him 24 years of experience in diverse fields like sales, marketing and general management in Asia across the categories such has personal care, household care, foods and beverages, confectionery and media. Rajesh is a graduate of XLRI Jamshedpur and BITS Pilani.
Prior to joining Perfetti Van Melle, Ramakrishnan was the marketing head at HT Media Ltd. In India, he has also worked in various sales and marketing roles for Pepsico, Marico Industries and Reckitt Benckiser.
Rajesh is an award winning photographer. His work has been featured at Cannes and has also been published in several publications in India and outside.
MAM
Bewakoof founder Prabhkiran Singh steps down after 14 years
CEO who built youth fashion brand from Mumbai room in 2011 to Rs 100 crore plus revenue exits end of March 2026.
MUMBAI: Bewakoof’s original designer is hanging up his entrepreneurial hoodie because after 14 years of stitching a brand from scratch, even the boldest founders need a well-earned breather. Prabhkiran Singh, co-founder and CEO of direct-to-consumer fashion label Bewakoof, announced on 24 February 2026 via LinkedIn that he will step down by the end of March to focus on health, family, and personal goals. He will stay on through the transition to ensure a smooth handover.
Singh launched the brand in 2011 at age 21 in a small Mumbai room alongside a fellow engineer, with no prior business experience, no venture capital, and a youth-focused apparel idea that he admits looked “almost foolish” at the time. Operating on shoestring resources often handling deliveries and customer queries themselves, the duo grew Bewakoof into one of India’s early breakout D2C fashion players. The company now ships over 20,000 products daily, crossed Rs 100 crore in revenue, and commands a social media community exceeding 6 million followers.
“Bewakoof has been my baby since I was 21 years old,” Singh wrote. “Bewakoof raised me while I was raising it.” He credited the journey with teaching him resilience, leadership, and the grit to push through tough stretches.
The brand, now backed by TMRW (a digital-first venture under Aditya Birla Group), has a strengthened leadership team in place. Singh called it his “firstborn” and said the “14-year-old ‘child’ we raised is now all grown up and ready to soar on its own.” He plans to cheer from the sidelines and share untold stories from the company’s early days in coming weeks.
His exit arrives as India’s D2C space enters a consolidation phase, with legacy conglomerates snapping up digital brands and founders after a decade of high-octane growth increasingly reassessing long-term roles. For a label built on bold prints and youthful energy, Singh’s departure isn’t an end, it’s the quiet close of one chapter so the next can print even brighter.
