MAM
Simone Tata, pioneer behind Lakmé and Westside, dies at 95
SWITZERLAND: Simone Tata, the Swiss-born business force who turned Lakmé into a household favourite and built Westside into a modern retail staple, has died at 95 in Mumbai after a brief illness, the Tata Group confirmed.
Her final rites will take place on Saturday at the Cathedral of the Holy Name Church in Colaba, followed by a memorial mass.
A Swiss arrival who reshaped Indian beauty
Born Simone Naval Dunoyer in Geneva in 1930, she first visited India in the 1950s as a tourist. A chance trip changed her world. She met Naval Tata, married him in 1955, and made Mumbai her home.
She joined Lakmé in the early 1960s when it was a tiny offshoot of Tata Oil Mills. By 1961 she was managing director and by 1982 she became chairperson. Her strategy was sharp: beauty for Indian skin tones, accessible glamour, and a brand India could proudly wear. Lakmé grew into a mass-market icon, going toe to toe with global cosmetics giants.
Turning sale proceeds into a retail revolution
When Lakmé was sold to Hindustan Unilever in the mid-1990s, she did not step back. She powered forward. The proceeds led to the creation of Trent Limited. Westside was born. The brand redefined Indian department stores long before organised retail became the norm. Fashionable, aspirational, and home-grown, it quickly spread nationwide.
Impact beyond boardrooms
She also worked quietly with philanthropic organisations including the Sir Ratan Tata Institute. Reserved in demeanour yet fierce in resolve, Simone Tata opened doors for Indian women in boardrooms and beauty aisles alike.
Her survivors include her son Noel Tata, the current chairperson of Tata Trusts, along with his family.
Simone Tata changed how India shops and how India shades its lips. Lakmé mirrors her bold stroke. Westside stands tall as her vision stitched into fabric and storefronts. India’s shelves still sparkle. The matriarch who helped them shine has taken her bow.
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
