MAM
Portfolio Evening champions the next wave of strategists
MUMBAI: The country’s strategy scene got a lively shake-up as Warc and DDB Mudra Group hosted the first-ever Portfolio Evening: Strategy Edition in Mumbai, giving young planners a rare chance to put their ideas under the spotlight.
The industry-first initiative brought together 40 emerging strategists with 0–5 years of experience and 20 seasoned jurors from leading agencies and brands. Each participant showcased two pieces of work, diving into problem-definition, insight-mining and strategic recommendations. The atmosphere felt part masterclass, part creative speed-dating, with participants receiving direct, practical and candid advice from some of India’s sharpest strategic thinkers.
DDB Mudra Group national strategy head Shashank Lanjekar, said the new format offered the kind of springboard young talent often misses. He added that having strategy veteran Madhukar Sabnavis in the room uplifted the evening, as he broke down what defines a truly powerful strategy using well-loved brand examples.
From Warc, India Editor Biprorshee Das highlighted the growing recognition of strategy as the engine of modern marketing, noting that the event mirrors Warc’s mission to build braver and more effective thinking through evidence-driven practice.
At the end of the reviews, three rising stars: Khushi Sharma, Chintan Mehta and Khushi Karve, were named the winners of the debut edition. Their prize: exclusive access to Warc’s Creative Impact Unpacked from Cannes, giving them a close look at global creative effectiveness.
Warc also presented insights from its new report, The Future of Strategy 2025, outlining how AI, culture and creativity are reshaping the strategist’s role in today’s fast-moving marketing landscape.
The evening drew an impressive jury lineup featuring Aditi Patwardhan, Anirban Mozumdar, Dheeraj Sinha, Ekta Relan, Ganapathy Balagopalan, Jitender Dabas, Kawal Shoor, Kirti Meera Sharad, Layla Khan, Mehak Jaini, Menaka Menon, Noor Samra, Prem Narayan, Rajesh Sharma, S Subramanyeswar, Sabiha Khan, Sanchari Chakrabarty, Shashank Lanjekar, T Gangadhar and Toru Jhaveri.
With its mix of mentorship, industry insight and real-world critique, Portfolio Evening: Strategy Edition set a fresh tone for how the next generation of thinkers can learn, grow and shape the future of effective marketing.
Brands
Trump announces $300bn Texas oil refinery with Reliance, calls it the biggest in US history
First new US refinery in 50 years planned at Brownsville port with Reliance
WASHINGTON: The United States may soon see the first brand-new oil refinery built on its soil in half a century.
Donald Trump announced a proposed $300 billion refinery project in Texas, calling it a landmark moment for American energy production and jobs.
Posting on Truth Social on 10 March, Trump said the facility would be built at the Port of Brownsville and developed by a company called America First Refining, with major investment from India’s Reliance Industries.
The announcement frames the project as a centrepiece of the administration’s push for “energy dominance”, with Trump claiming it would deliver thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity to South Texas.
If realised, the plant would mark the first all-new major refinery constructed in the United States since the 1970s. In recent decades, oil companies have largely chosen to expand existing facilities rather than build new ones, citing high costs, regulatory hurdles and environmental scrutiny.
Trump described the proposed investment as the “biggest in US history”, positioning it as proof that policy changes such as streamlined permits and lower taxes are drawing large-scale energy investments back into the country.
The refinery is planned for the Port of Brownsville, a strategic Gulf Coast location that provides easy access to shipping routes and export markets.
A key partner in the project is Reliance Industries, controlled by billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani. The company already runs the world’s largest refining complex in Jamnagar, India, making it one of the most experienced operators in large-scale petroleum processing.
The Texas venture would mark a significant step for the group into America’s domestic refining sector, potentially strengthening industrial ties between the US and India.
The proposed refinery is being promoted as a next-generation facility capable of processing American shale oil while maintaining high environmental standards. Trump said it would be “the cleanest refinery in the world”, although the specific technologies behind that claim have not yet been detailed.
Industry observers also note that the $300 billion figure is unusually large for a refinery project, and analysts are waiting for more clarity on whether the number reflects total construction costs, long-term infrastructure investment, or broader economic impact estimates.
As of 11 March, Reliance Industries had not publicly confirmed the investment size or the structure of its involvement.
For now, the announcement has sparked equal parts excitement and curiosity in energy markets. If the plan moves from promise to pouring concrete, the refinery could reshape the Gulf Coast energy landscape, and reopen a chapter in American refining that has been quiet for nearly fifty years.
