Brands
Viber India to help young footballers
MUMBAI: With FIFA fever gripping the world, Viber India has initiated a corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity to support a home grown football team.
Every conversation made through Viber India contributes to the campaign titled ‘Vibe The Goal’ that will support the girls of the YUWA football team in Jharkand.
Founded in 2009, Yuwa is a girls’ football programs in India, with 250 players. The Yuwa Foundation uses football as a platform to combat child marriage and human trafficking in the poorest of communities in Jharkhand.
Through this activity Viber is giving its users a change to be a part of a movement to ensure there are football equipments and education facilities for these girls who have succeeded at the national and international levels.
The campaign is conceptualised and executed by FoxyMoron.
“Viber India aimed to engage with their target audience interested in football. The idea is to leverage the football madness that has taken over everyone. With India nowhere close to participating in the World Cup, it only seemed fitting to have the youth identify with an Indian team through an emotional yet inspiring message,” said FoxyMoron business head – north Akshay Gurnani.
The inspiring story of girls of the YUWA football is encapsulated in a short digital film. The campaign was launched on 17 June. The film has received over 2.9 Lakh views., so far.
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The campaigned has garnered 18.6 million impressions on Twitter with 24,300 tweets generated in support of the #VibeTheGoal initiative and close to 9.5 lakh fans have engaged on Facebook.
“Viber is proud to partner with YUWA team. Through our association with YUWA we are aiming to generate maximum awareness about the NGO which has championed the social cause of combating issues such as child marriage and human trafficking in India. Everyone can be a part of the conversation on Viber to support the team. Every message exchanged on Viber will go a long way in contributing towards uplifting the social and economic conditions for these girls who have earned great reputation for India at national and international levels,” mentioned Viber country head Anubhav Nayyar.
Through every conversation happening on Viber various monetary levels of contributions will be displayed on a meter on the campaign microsite which is also an aggregator of the support the girls are receiving.
YUWA India founder Franz Gastler said, “Society teaches girls to fit in. Yuwa coaches girls to stand out. In Jharkhand, 6 in 10 girls drop out of school and become child brides. Yuwa is using football and education to combat child marriage, illiteracy and human trafficking. We are thrilled to join hands with Viber India to build support for Yuwa’s programs and a center of excellence to educate, nourish and sustain the girls of Yuwa. Join the cause, make some noise.”
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.
