Bata India elevates an insider
Bata India has appointed Jasleen Kaur G as its new Head of Marketing. She steps up from Head, Category Marketing & PR, a role she took on in October 2024, according to her LinkedIn profile.
In that role, she led brand management and marketing strategy across a broad portfolio: Bata, Hush Puppies, Scholl, Bubble Gummers, Nine West, Power, Floatz and North Star.
A resume built across retail and luxury
Before Bata, Kaur was Assistant Vice President—Marketing at Reliance Brands, where she managed marketing and PR for international names such as Hugo Boss, Mothercare and Hamleys. She also spent more than seven years at Benetton Group as Head of Marketing, Public Relations & Sustainability across the Indian subcontinent, covering India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.
Earlier roles at Canon India and India Infrastructure Publishing gave her digital marketing and communications grounding. In early 2023, she founded Indiawood Global, writing on LinkedIn that building it meant “choosing courage over comfort”—a founder’s lens she now brings to a large consumer brand.
What makes this CV unusual
Kaur’s education spans English literature, brand management and sustainability. She studied BA (Hons) English at Delhi College of Arts and Commerce and MA English at Jamia Millia Islamia, then completed management training in brand management and digital marketing at IIT Delhi, an executive education course in sustainable development at Columbia University, and an MBA in marketing and strategy from MDI.
She is also a published poet, with a collection called Ginger and Honey, and started her career as a journalism intern.
Why this matters for marketers
- Portfolio depth is the story. Kaur has worked across value and premium labels, which fits Bata’s need to hold multiple price positions.
- Sustainability is part of the job. Her Benetton sustainability role and Columbia course position sustainability as a brand lever, not just compliance.
- Insider promotions signal continuity. Bata selected a leader who already knows the brand architecture and the category.
What to watch
The test is whether Kaur can make Bata’s portfolio feel like one brand system rather than eight separate labels. Marketers looking to build similar careers can rotate across brands and regions early, and treat sustainability and digital skills as core rather than add-on.
Source: Mint
