Brands
Wakefit appoints Parul Gupta as chief financial officer
Seasoned finance leader brings experience across telecom, fashion and biotech
BENGALURU: Wakefit has appointed Parul Gupta as chief financial officer, bringing on board a seasoned finance leader with nearly two decades of experience across telecom, e-commerce and biotechnology.
Gupta steps into the role after a brief stint at Syngene International, where she served as head finance for the large molecule business. Before that, she spent over seven years at Myntra, steadily rising through the ranks to become senior director business finance, where she oversaw key areas including supply chain, marketing, customer growth, international brands and omni channel operations.
Her career path reflects a steady climb through high-growth organisations and complex financial environments. At Aircel, she handled corporate controller responsibilities, financial reporting, audits and major systems implementations, while earlier roles at Airtel saw her managing planning, reporting and business analysis across multiple circles.
From telecom towers to fashion carts and biotech labs, Gupta’s journey has been anything but one note. Her appointment at Wakefit signals the company’s intent to strengthen its financial strategy as it continues to scale its presence in India’s fast-evolving home and sleep solutions market.
Colleagues describe her as a finance professional who blends rigour with agility, someone equally comfortable with balance sheets and big-picture growth plans. At Wakefit, she is expected to play a central role in steering financial discipline while supporting the brand’s expansion ambitions.
With Gupta at the helm of its finance function, Wakefit appears to be setting the tone for its next phase of growth, one spreadsheet at a time.
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.
