Brands
Siddhartha Juneja to steer Nivea India’s brands on ecommerce platforms
MUMBAI: There’s no better place to understand the dynamics of e-commerce and D2C brands than Flipkart – which is now part of Walmart. Siddhartha Juneja spent two years – of which a part of it was during the pandemic – between July 2020 to July 2022 at the e-commerce giant.
That experience will prove invaluable following his appointment as director of e-commerce at Nivea India recently. Prior to his recent appointment, he spent a couple of years and seven months as head- omnichannel at Mondelez International between July 2022 and January 2025.
He spent four years and some months each at Kellogg India (March 2016-July 2020; marketing manager, category head and channel head – e-commerce & D2C) and General Mills (October 2011-Februrary 2016; area sales manager Mumbai and brand manager).
Two years of experience with Wipro Consumer Care (May 2009 and October 2011) saw him his sharpening his understanding of the dynamics of FMCG sales and distribution .
Juneja holds a BTech degree and a post-graduation in marketing and operations. He lists business management, brand management and marketing as his top three skills.
He will have to put all three to use at Nivea India as he puts in his all to build online commerce for the company.
Brands
Dunkin’ Donuts to exit India as Jubilant FoodWorks ends 15-year franchise deal
The quick service restaurant giant is ending a 15-year franchise partnership with the American doughnut chain, even as it renews its Domino’s agreement for another 15 years
NOIDA: Dunkin’ is done in India. Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, the country’s leading quick service restaurant operator, has decided not to renew its franchise agreement with the American coffee and doughnut chain, and will wind down its Indian stores in a phased manner before December 31, 2026, bringing a 15-year partnership to a quiet, loss-laden close.
The decision, approved by JFL’s board on March 30, 2026, ends a relationship that began with a Multiple Unit Development Franchise Agreement signed on February 24, 2011. JFL will now evaluate and undertake what it described in a regulatory filing as the “rationalisation and/or cessation of certain operations and/or sale, transfer or disposal of assets and/or assignment or transfer of franchise rights,” all in consultation with Dunkin’s brand owners and strictly within the terms of the original agreement.
The numbers tell the story bluntly. In the financial year 2024-25, Dunkin’ India posted a revenue of Rs 37 crore against a loss of Rs 19 crore — a haemorrhage that was always going to test the patience of a parent company recording revenues of Rs 6,104 crore and a profit of Rs 194 crore in the same period. Doughnuts, it turns out, were never going to move the needle.
The contrast with JFL’s handling of its other marquee franchise could hardly be sharper. Even as it walks away from Dunkin’, the company has just doubled down on Domino’s, signing a fresh Master Franchise Agreement on March 31, 2026, granting it exclusive rights to develop and operate Domino’s Pizza stores in India for 15 years, with an option to renew for a further 10.
JFL, incorporated in 1995 and promoted by the Bharatia family, operates a network of more than 3,500 stores across six markets — India, Turkey, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Its portfolio includes Domino’s and Popeyes on the global side, and two home-grown brands: Hong’s Kitchen and COFFY, a café brand in Turkey.
For Dunkin’, India was always a stretch. The brand never quite cracked the cultural code in a market where filter coffee and chai command fierce loyalty and where the doughnut remains, at best, an occasional indulgence rather than a daily habit. Fifteen years, mounting losses and a parent with better things to spend its capital on was always going to be a difficult equation to solve.
The doughnut has had its last day. The pizza, however, is staying.
