Brands
Savitha Balachandran takes charge as PepsiCo India CFO
GURUGRAM: PepsiCo India has welcomed a new captain at the financial helm. Savitha Balachandran has been appointed chief financial officer, bringing over 20 years of experience steering finances at some of India’s top corporates.
Balachandran joins PepsiCo after a five-and-a-half-year stint as CFO at Tata Technologies. Her journey in the Tata Group spans nearly two decades, including leadership roles in mergers and acquisitions, capital budgeting, organisational strategy, treasury, and investor relations.
A strategist with a sharp eye for numbers, she has consistently combined operational precision with long-term vision. Her leadership journey is dotted with prestigious programmes, including Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program and a Fulbright-CII Fellowship at Carnegie Mellon University.
Based in Gurugram, Balachandran is set to play a pivotal role in shaping PepsiCo India’s growth story, bringing financial rigour, strategic insight, and a dash of bold thinking to the beverage and snacks giant.
With her at the helm, PepsiCo’s financial ship is poised to sail into exciting waters, blending steady stewardship with fresh perspectives.
Brands
Aman Gupta launches new venture OffBeat Studios
Boat co-founder steps into fresh entrepreneurial chapter after shifting to non-executive role.
MUMBAI: Aman Gupta just flipped the beat because when you’ve already made waves with Boat, the next move is to start a whole new rhythm.
boAt co-founder Aman Gupta has unveiled his new entrepreneurial venture, OffBeat Studios, marking his first independent project since stepping away from day-to-day operations at the audio and wearables brand. In a post on X on 3 March 2026, Gupta wrote: “With every birthday, some grow older, I grow bolder. I am still hungry, still impatient and still driven. Aman 2.0 begins soon. Introducing my new venture. @Offbeatstudios1.”
Details about OffBeat Studios remain scarce. Gupta has shared only a stylised “OFF/BEAT” logo and no specifics on the business model, sector focus, funding, team or launch timeline. It is unclear whether the venture will operate independently or hold any strategic link to Boat.
Gupta played a pivotal role in building boAt’s brand and marketing identity since its inception and gained wider visibility as a judge on Shark Tank India. His shift to a non-executive board position followed a leadership transition at Boat last year, Gaurav Nayyar was appointed CEO, while co-founder Sameer Mehta took on the role of executive director focused on strategy, reflecting a move toward professionalised management.
The announcement arrives as Boat’s parent company, Imagine Marketing, gears up for its initial public offering. The Warburg Pincus-backed firm received SEBI approval after confidentially filing in April 2025 and is reportedly targeting a valuation of around Rs 13,000 crore. This marks Boat’s second IPO attempt, the first, filed in January 2022 for Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 900 crore fresh issue + Rs 1,100 crore offer for sale), was withdrawn amid market volatility.
Boat has not commented on whether Gupta’s new venture will impact the upcoming public issue. For a founder who helped turn Boat into a youth-favourite audio brand, OffBeat Studios signals not a slowdown, but a bold new track proving that when one rhythm fades, another is already waiting to drop.
