Sanjeev Mohanty takes leave of his post as regional director of Sales and Marketing, Benetton, for India, SAARC and ASEAN Region, to assume the office of managing director. He replaces Gagan Singh. In his previous assignment, Mohanty was overseeing the sales, retail and marketing functions in India.
Mohanty’s in-depth understanding of the lifestyle & apparel industry has helped him catapult Benetton India to a leadership position among its competitor brands in a relatively short span. The brand has grown at a frantic pace in terms of top-line and bottom-lines under his leadership. His growth strategies have helped reposition and rejuvenate UCB as a brand, having overseen the launch of more than 70 retail stores.
Mohanty’s stint at Benetton is replete with achievements: among others, he created the concept of large-format category stores tailored to the needs of customers; initiated strategic tie-ups to expand the ‘kids’ category business, having added exclusive kids stores in the Benetton portfolio; took international shopping experience through large-format stores to smaller cities like Guhawati, Aizawl and Patiala; and created an industry benchmark for visual merchandising.
Before joining Benetton, Mohanty was the brand head for SF Jeans for three years. His core competencies included the interpretation of fashion trends in the context of the brand as well as leveraging key customer insights to extend the brand experience across categories. Prior to this, Mohanty was product manager with Levi Strauss India.
Mohanty is a post-graduate from NIFT, where he specialised in Apparel Marketing & Merchandising. His hobbies include philately, numismatics, music, sci-fi films and adventure holidays. His dream is to do a world trip on his Harley Davidson bike, which he intends to own by 2008.
Recognitions have duly come Mohanty’s way. Early this year, he was acknowledged as ‘Brand Professional of the Year’ at Lycra Images Fashion Awards 2007. he was also nominated as Best Brand Professional of the year at the recently held CMAI Apex awards. His Super Achiever Award, bestowed by Indira Group of Institutes, recognises his contribution to the fashion and retail industry. The title is awarded to one person from the industry based on the last five years’ records and performance. The last two awardees were Vikram Rao of Madura Garments and Anuj Puri of Chesterton Meghraj.
