Brand Finance India 100 2026 Report Launch

Mr. Abhinav Kumar serves as the Global Chief Marketing Officer for Tata Consultancy Services, leading a global, diverse and gender balanced team of 700 professionals in 55 countries, who drive the brand, reputation, relationships, and growth for the company.

As part of the company’s senior leadership team, he serves on the Executive Committee and reports directly to the CEO of TCS, while splitting his time between the company’s Headquaters in Mumbai and his office in Belgium.

Under his leadership, this team has been recognized with over 150 awards for excellence in Communications & Marketing, establishing the company as the #1 fastest growing brand in the IT Services Industry over the past 15 years. The brand value of the company has risen exponentially from US$ 2.3 billion in 2010 to US$ 21.3 billion in 2025. Its brand awareness among executives went up by 2X to 84% in the same period, it has consistently held a Top 3 industry position in terms of media share and been rated as #1 in customer satisfaction for 10 years in a row. All these efforts led the company to be recognized as a “Superbrand” in its top two markets - the US & the UK, and at its APAC headquarters - Singapore.

During this tenure, Abhinav has overseen a massive expansion in the brand sponsorship strategy to create a US$350 million portfolio which has included tie-ups with some of the world’s premier firms including the Ferrari, Ducati and Jaguar teams in motorsports, the Dutch Open golf tournament, the Garmin-Cervelo cycling team and over 15 major running events including the TCS NewYork City Marathon, TCS Amsterdam Marathon and TCS London Marathon. He holds executive responsibility for the company’s relationships with several multilateral bodies, including the European Union, and with the World Economic Forum.

Over the past four years from 2021-2024, Abhinav was regularly featured in the Influence 100 list, being rated among the world’s most high-impact global CMOs and CCOs. In 2020, he was recognized by Reputation Today magazine as one of the Top 20 global communications leaders. In 2019, Abhinav was accorded the SABRE award in London, for outstanding lifetime career achievement as a CMO.

Over a 23-year career, Abhinav has been part of a leadership team that has scaled the company 41X times, from a US$ 700 million to a US$29 billion business, and from a workforce of 18,000 to 615,000. He has served in several key leadership positions in this journey, including as the CMO for International Markets
(2017-2023), CMO for Europe (2011-2017), CCO for Europe (2008-2011) and CMO for Latin America (2004-08). He was also part of the corporate team that worked on the company’s US$ 1.2 billion IPO in 2004.

Abhinav holds a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta and a honours degree in Economics from Delhi University.

He is a member of the World Economic Forum CMO Council, the Wall Street Journal CMO Network and the UN Global Compact CMO Think Lab. Abhinav serves as a board member at EIBC (Europe India Business Council), Global Advisory Board member of the IT Services Marketing Association (ITSMA), Member of IMD Business School’s CMO Roundtable, Member of Ipsos Mori’s Reputation council, Advisory board Member of the Think Tank Free Trade Europa, Advisory Board Member of ThinkYoung, Customer Advisory Board Member of Relayto, and a Member of the Global Communications Director Network (GCDN) in Switzerland.

Based out of the firm’s Brussels office, Abhinav has lived and worked in six countries (Belgium, Chile, France, India, Switzerland and Uruguay) and speaks two European languages - Spanish and French. He is a regular speaker at various universities, parliaments, and industry events worldwide on communications, branding, trade and economic issues. He has two sons, with whom he shares a passion for discovering the world and for the sport of cricket, and a wife who is a Career Strategist and Executive Coach.

A seasoned marketeer who has worked across different domains such as retail, FMCG and hospitality, Shalini Rao is a maverick in the marketing industry. She’s worked on launching new products in the highly competitive Indian market and has been successful in redefining marketing strategies for global brands.  

She has worked with brands such as the Taj Group, TetraPak India, Mars India, Gillette India, Marico, Captain Cook, and McKinsey & Company, in various roles including leadership positions, where she brought a holistic business perspective to the table.  

Her current role at BIAL as CMO and as a board member of the CSR Foundation of the company, gives her the opportunity to create memorable brand stories and enable employees and partners to get more involved for a social change.  

Some of the highlights of her career are relaunching the Taj Inner Circle consumer loyalty programme, creating and implementing India market entry strategies for Pedigree, building brand and segment strategies for Braun, Saffola Extensions and Captain Cook, and launching BLR Airport’s Terminal 2. 

In 2021, ABP News recognised her as one of India's top marketing influencers, in 2022 Portrait Businesswoman listed her as one of the top LinkedIn users to follow, in 2023 she was recognised as one of Asia’s 100 Women Power Leaders by White Page International, in the same year, she was one of the top five women leaders nominated in the Marketing Leader of the Year Award category under the ET Prime Women Leadership Awards 2023. In 2025, she was recognised as a Global Power Leader under the Marketing and Communications Category by White Page International at the House of Lords in the UK. More recently, Shalini was recognised with the Marketing Meister award by BARC Asia & Herald Global, a recognition for a leader who has shaped an organisation’s brand, through innovative storytelling and marketing. 

Mr. Puneet Chhatwal joined The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer in November 2017. He is a global professional with close to four decades of leadership experience at highly acclaimed hotel groups in Europe and North America.

Under his leadership, IHCL has been on a journey of re-imagination to achieve sustainable profitable growth. Mr. Chhatwal also serves as the leading voice of the industry in India in his capacity as the Chairman of the National Committee of Tourism and Hospitality, CII, President of Hotel Association of India (HAI) and Chairman of Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH).

Prior to this, Mr. Chhatwal was the Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Executive Board of Steigenberger Hotels AG – Deutsche Hospitality. He was also the Chief Development Officer of The Rezidor Hotel Group – Carlson Hotels Worldwide. Mr. Chhatwal is a graduate of both, Delhi University and Institute of Hotel Management, Delhi. He has completed an MBA in Hospitality from ESSEC, Paris and an Advanced Management Program from INSEAD.

Across his global leadership career in hospitality, Mr. Chhatwal has received several acclaimed industry awards and he was also the First Alumnus included in the ESSEC-IMHI Hall of Honor 2014.

Alex is an all-rounder on all areas of valuation and quantitative market research but is a technical specialist in the assessment on the return on investment of different brand architecture and brand positioning options. Much of this experience has focused on identifying the brand structures, media investment, media mix and distribution channel management needed to minimise risk and maximise opportunity from any brand changes.

His other area of expertise is the use of market research and brand valuation for licensing strategy and transfer pricing having helped to set up brand licensing teams and structures with many clients.

He is a Chartered Accountant, Chartered Tax adviser and has completed the Advance Diploma in International Tax, with a specialisation in Transfer Pricing. He holds a dual degree in Economics and Environmental Policy from the London School of Economics and has completed training in Data Analysis and Marketing Strategy. He has worked internationally across all continents and in most sectors and now manages Brand Finance's teams and client work across Asia and Australasia.

Ajimon was one of the first team members of Brand Finance India, joining in 2005, and is currently the Managing Director. He has worked on various brand valuation projects for companies such as Tata Group, Godrej Group, Raymonds, Lafarge, Vedanta Group, Essar Group, L&T, Amalgamation, Reliance Capital, UB Group, Sakal Media Group and many more across India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.

He has gained expertise in the area of B2B research and due diligence and has worked extensively with Stock Exchanges, Capital Markets, Financial Services, NBFCs, Engineering Services, Core Manufacturing, and F&B sectors. Prior to his consulting career, Ajimon had 10 years of corporate experience with Rasna and Philips India. During this period, he worked with complex retail distribution systems and brand management challenges in a highly competitive marketplace.

He holds an MBA in Marketing Management. He is a certified competency assessor as well as a visiting lecturer in Sales and Marketing subjects at management schools such as SP Jain and Sydenham in Mumbai.