MAM
Pizza Hut bolsters subcontinent leadership with Pranav Dahiya and Nazia Abidi; a fresh slice of finance and people power
MUMBAI: Pizza Hut is heating things up, not just in ovens but also in boardrooms. The popular QSR giant has reinforced its leadership recipe by adding two critical ingredients — Pranav Dahiya as chief financial & strategy officer and Nazia Abidi as chief people & culture officer — to drive the brand’s next phase of expansion across the Indian subcontinent.
The move comes as Pizza Hut, part of Yum! Brands, ramps up its growth across India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. With over 900 stores already dotting the Indian landscape, the brand now aims to stretch deeper into emerging markets while keeping its people strategy and financial spine razor-sharp.
Dahiya steps into his new role armed with nearly 20 years of experience across finance, corporate banking and strategy. Prior to joining Pizza Hut, he served as Chaayos CFO, where he led strategic business planning, operational governance, sourcing, compliance and M&A. A banker-turned-boardroom tactician, Dahiya is set to lead Pizza Hut’s finance and strategy with a clear focus on long-term value and operational efficiency.
Meanwhile, Abidi brings over a decade of HR firepower from high-growth consumer tech firms. At Cardekho Group, she led HR for southeast Asia and helped scale its fintech venture, rupyy. At Pizza Hut, she will lead the people strategy, with a mandate to champion talent management, employer branding and build a culture rooted in high performance and continuous growth.
“We are thrilled to welcome Pranav and Nazia to the Pizza Hut leadership team. They join us at an exciting moment for the brand. With their leadership, we’re well-positioned to grow faster, lead smarter, and stay true to what matters – our people and our promise to customers”, said Pizza Hut Indian subcontinent MD Rohan Pewekar.
With deep experience in consumer behaviour, scaling strategies and people-first cultures, the appointments reflect the brand’s ambition to stay ahead in the competitive QSR space, one leadership move at a time.
Brands
Abhinav Rastogi named global marketing director for YouTube Shopping
Google veteran to scale creator commerce and expand shopping across global markets
SINGAPORE: Abhinav Rastogi has stepped into a new role as global marketing director for YouTube Shopping, marking the latest chapter in a more than decade-long career at Google.
Rastogi, who took on the position in February and is based in Singapore, will lead global marketing for YouTube Shopping, a platform designed to connect creators, viewers and merchants in a single ecosystem. His remit includes expanding the service into new markets and strengthening its positioning as a growth channel for both creators and brands.
In a reflective note on the transition, Rastogi pointed to a simple but powerful idea driving the role. For years, creators have quietly built trust with audiences through consistent and authentic content, and that trust often shapes purchasing decisions. What is changing now, he said, is the infrastructure around that behaviour. YouTube Shopping aims to make it easier for viewers to discover and buy products recommended by creators they already follow.
The scale is already significant. More than half a million creators have joined the programme, with recent expansion into Japan through a partnership with Rakuten signalling further global ambitions.
Rastogi believes the future of shopping on YouTube will be driven by a blend of creators, content and communities. In his view, it is the human voice behind the screen, not just the product, that ultimately builds trust and drives discovery.
Prior to this role, he served as director of marketing, YouTube Asia Pacific, where he led regional marketing across creator engagement, brand building and reputation. During that time, he played a key role in launching and scaling YouTube Shopping across eight markets in the region.
Earlier stints at Google include group product marketing manager, consumer apps, overseeing growth for products such as Search, Maps and Assistant across India and Southeast Asia, and product marketing manager roles spanning consumer apps and YouTube, where he contributed to launches including YouTube Music, YouTube Originals and YouTube Shorts.
Rastogi began his career in consulting with Boston Consulting Group and A.T. Kearney, before moving into the technology sector. He is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management Calcutta and Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.
Alongside his corporate role, he is also an active angel investor, backing early-stage startups in consumer technology and electric mobility across India and Southeast Asia.
As he settles into the new role, Rastogi is betting on a future where every video can double up as a storefront, and where commerce feels less like a transaction and more like a recommendation from a trusted voice.
