Brands
Shilpa Dureja Puri elevated as director marketing – new computing & wearables at Samsung Electronics India
GURGAON: Shilpa Dureja Puri has been elevated as director marketing, new computing and wearables at Samsung Electronics India, signalling the company’s confidence in a leader steeped in digital, premium and ecosystem storytelling.
She now leads marketing for tablets, laptops, watches, buds, rings and accessories, shaping the next phase of connected consumer experiences and driving growth in categories that straddle work, play and everyday digital life.
Within Samsung, Dureja Puri has climbed steadily. She has handled director marketing roles across luxury, flagship and ecosystem portfolios, served as gm marketing for luxury and flagship mobiles, and earlier as general manager digital from Gurugram, sharpening the brand’s premium and online muscle.
Her grounding in technology marketing was forged at Microsoft, where she held director roles in digital and experiential marketing and earlier led digital marketing across content, search, analytics and demand generation. She worked on governance, privacy and large-scale digital transformation, and drove partner and education marketing programmes across India.
Before that came agency and global exposure. As vice president at Publicis Modem, part of Publicis Groupe, she ran India operations, managed P&L and built digital strategy for clients including HP and Beam Global. She also served as marketing director, India at Dada S.p.A, working on web and mobile community services across markets.
Her early career blended media, marketing and academia. She taught as senior guest faculty at National Institute of Fashion Technology, University of Delhi and Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, covering new media, journalism and communication skills.
In media and publishing, she worked with HT Media Ltd on the relaunch of Hindustan Times’ digital properties and brand activations, including a luxury conference at Taj Mahal Palace & Towers. At Times Internet Limited, she handled editorial and product roles across lifestyle and city guides. As a freelance journalist, she wrote for The Times of India, The Asian Age, The Statesman and Femina, among others.
Recognition has followed. She has been named among the 100 Smartest Digital Marketing Leaders by World Digital Marketing Congress and CMO Asia. An alumna of International Management Institute New Delhi, she also completed the Modern Marketing programme at Kellogg School of Management, finishing with distinction.
For Samsung, the logic is clear. As screens, wearables and services converge, marketing must stitch them into one story. Dureja Puri’s brief is to make that story sell. The race now is for mindshare, wallet share and a place in the consumer’s daily routine. Samsung has picked its narrator.
Brands
Jubilant Foodworks to end Dunkin’ franchise in India
Pizza chain operator will not renew agreement when it expires at end of 2026.
MUMBAI: When the doughnuts stop turning and the coffee goes cold, even a global giant like Dunkin’ can find the Indian market a tough brew to crack. Jubilant Foodworks has decided not to renew its franchise agreement with Dunkin’ when the pact expires on 31 December 2026, according to a Reuters report. The operator, best known for running Domino’s outlets in India, said it would evaluate options for its existing Dunkin’ stores, including a potential sale or transfer of franchise rights, in consultation with the US-based brand.
The decision follows years of underperformance in a market where local tastes and intense competition have made it difficult for international coffee-and-doughnut formats to gain traction. Jubilant, which has increasingly focused on its core pizza business and newer bets like Popeyes, indicated that the exit would not materially affect its financial or operational position.
Dunkin’ accounted for just 0.61 per cent of Jubilant’s revenue in the fiscal year ending 2025 and recorded a loss of approximately Rs 191 million, according to a regulatory filing. The company operated 27 outlets as of December 2025, having shuttered seven stores over the preceding year.
The retreat comes even as Jubilant’s broader business shows signs of momentum. The company reported a 65 per cent rise in quarterly profit for the October to December period, reaching Rs 70.9 crore, up from Rs 42.91 crore a year earlier.
For Jubilant, the exit reflects a sharpening strategic focus. For Dunkin’, it marks another setback in a market that has proven resistant to imported café concepts without significant localisation.
In the cut-throat world of Indian quick-service restaurants, sometimes the sweetest deals are the ones you quietly walk away from leaving more room for the brands that truly rise to the occasion.
