Brands
Who is Akhil Mehra? The new head of commercial at Sony Pictures Networks India
Media veteran with 20 plus years to steer Spni’s future-facing growth
MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Networks India has appointed Akhil Mehra as its new head of commercial, marking a strategic move to strengthen its revenue architecture across platforms and markets.
Based in Mumbai, Mehra will drive commercial initiatives spanning digital, linear television, technology, sports, marketing and content across Hindi and regional portfolios. His mandate is clear: build future-ready commercial models that match the pace of India’s evolving media landscape.
A commercial strategist with over two decades of experience, Mehra has quietly shaped some of the country’s most influential broadcast and streaming businesses. Before joining Sony, he spent nearly 19 years at Star TV Network and its digital arm Disney+ Hotstar, holding a series of senior leadership roles across commercial, procurement and compliance functions.
At Star, he rose through the ranks from senior manager to vice president, eventually serving as director, commercial and procurement at Jiostar India. He led media rights negotiations, content acquisition strategies and complex budgeting frameworks across Hindi and English channel portfolios. From managing Hindi cinema pipelines to pricing analytics and intellectual property strategy, Mehra’s career has been built at the intersection of content and commerce.
His stint as vice president and commercial head at Hotstar was particularly formative. He was instrumental in setting up commercial processes, building teams and negotiating content, technology and marketing contracts at a time when streaming in India was still finding its feet.
In 2025, Mehra briefly stepped into the creative arena as a freelance content creator and producer, collaborating on Hindi cinema and South Indian film projects with a focus on commercially viable storytelling. The move added a storyteller’s lens to his dealmaker’s toolkit.
Earlier in his career, he sharpened his commercial instincts in the insurance sector with roles at Tata AIG General Insurance Company Limited, Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Co. Ltd. and Iffco Tokio General Insurance Co. Ltd., where he worked across underwriting, retail strategy and corporate growth.
At Sony Pictures Networks India, Mehra now steps into a role that demands both numbers and nuance. With broadcast economics under pressure and digital monetisation evolving by the day, the network is betting on a leader who understands that content may be king, but commerce keeps the kingdom running.
For Mehra, it is less a new chapter and more a natural sequel. And this time, he is steering the business from the front row.
Brands
Godrej clarifies ‘GI’ identifier after logo similarity debate
Says GI is not a logo, will not replace Godrej signature across products.
MUMBAI: In a branding storm where shapes did the talking, Godrej is now spelling things out. Godrej Industries Group (GIG) has issued a clarification on its newly introduced ‘GI’ identifier, addressing questions around its purpose and design following a wave of online criticism. At the centre of the debate were two concerns: whether the new mark replaces the long-standing Godrej logo, and whether its geometric design mirrors other corporate identities.
The company has drawn a clear line. The Godrej signature logo, it said, remains unchanged and continues to be the sole logo across all consumer-facing products and services. The ‘GI’ mark, by contrast, is not a logo but a corporate group identifier intended for use alongside the Godrej signature or company name, and aimed at stakeholders such as investors, media and talent rather than consumers.
The need for such a distinction stems from the 2024 restructuring of the broader Godrej Group into two separate business entities. With both continuing to operate under the same Godrej name and signature, the identifier is positioned as a way to differentiate the Godrej Industries Group at a corporate level.
The rollout, however, triggered a broader conversation on design originality. Critics pointed to similarities between the GI mark’s geometric composition and logos used by companies globally, raising questions about distinctiveness.
Responding to this, GIG said its intellectual property and legal review found that such overlaps are common in minimalist, geometry-led design systems. Basic forms such as circles and rectangles appear across dozens of brand identities worldwide, the company noted.
It added that the identifier emerged from an extensive design process and was chosen for its simplicity, allowing it to sit alongside the Godrej signature without competing visually. While acknowledging that elemental shapes may appear less distinctive in isolation, the group emphasised that the mark is part of a broader identity system that includes a custom typeface, sonic branding and other proprietary elements.
Following legal and ethical assessments, the company said it found no impediment to using the identifier, reiterating that the GI mark is a corporate tool not a consumer-facing symbol.
In short, the logo isn’t changing but the conversation around it certainly has.
