Corporate Communications Leader

Puneet
Gupta.

Head of Communications — INOX Air Products & INOX India Ltd.

21 years of shaping narrative at the intersection of industry, people, and transformation. From airways to airwaves, from retail entertainment to industrial India.

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21+
Years Experience
4
Industries
₹50K Cr+
Brands Managed
1.5L
Women Reached

The Person

Communicator.
Storyteller.
Strategic Builder.

Puneet Gupta is a senior corporate communications leader with over two decades of experience navigating India's most competitive and complex industries. Beginning at Jet Airways and cutting his teeth in Telecom at Bharti Airtel across MPCG for nearly a decade, he has since shaped brands at the intersection of entertainment, aviation, and industrial progress.

At INOX Leisure, he rose from GM to AVP over nine years, building communications infrastructure for one of India's largest multiplex chains — culminating in overseeing communications for the landmark PVR-INOX merger in 2022. Today, as Head of Communications for INOX Air Products and INOX India, he crafts the public narrative for one of the conglomerate's most critical industrial divisions.

AviationTelecomEntertainmentIndustrialRetailMediaESGCSR

Recognition

PRSI 2014
Best PR Professional of the Year
Public Relations Society of India recognition for strategic communications excellence during a transformative period in Indian telecom.
ET Telecom 2016
Best Telecom Communicator
Economic Times Telecom Award for sustained excellence in telecom communications, stakeholder engagement, and media strategy at Airtel.

What I Do

Disciplines of Craft

●
Corporate Communications
End-to-end communications architecture for large organisations: messaging frameworks, spokespersons, crisis playbooks, and board-level narrative. Built from the ground up at Airtel and INOX.
◆
Media Strategy & Relations
Deep media relationships across national and regional press, broadcast, and digital. Expert in crafting stories that secure organic coverage without transactional dependency. Extensive experience navigating MPCG and pan-India media landscapes.
▲
Brand & Reputation
Reputation management across complex environments: mergers, leadership transitions, regulatory shifts, and competitive markets. Maintained INOX Leisure brand equity through the PVR merger.
✦
CSR & Social Impact
Designed and led the eShakti digital literacy programme at Airtel, directly reaching 1.5 lakh women in Madhya Pradesh. Firm believer that corporate purpose must translate into measurable community impact.
◆
Crisis Communications
Scenario planning, rapid-response protocols, and stakeholder management under pressure. Experience across telecom regulatory crises, merger-related market volatility, and public reputation events.
21+
Years of Craft
Industrial Storytelling
Translating the technical complexity of industrial India — gases, engineering, infrastructure — into narratives that resonate with policy makers, media, and public stakeholders. Currently leading for INOX Air Products & INOX India.

The Journey

A Career Built on Conviction

May 2024 — Present
Head of Communications
INOX Air Products & INOX India Ltd.
Leading communications for two flagship entities of the INOX conglomerate. Responsible for corporate narrative, media strategy, stakeholder communications, and ESG storytelling for one of India's leading industrial gas and infrastructure groups.
2022 — April 2024
Deputy Vice President — Communications
PVR INOX Ltd.
Navigated communications for the landmark PVR-INOX merger — one of the largest M&A events in Indian entertainment. Led integration communications, brand transition narratives, media strategy, and stakeholder management for the combined entity.
2013 — 2022
GM to AVP — Communications
INOX Leisure Ltd.
Nine transformative years building the communications function at one of India's largest multiplex chains. Rose through the ranks from GM to AVP, establishing INOX as a nationally recognised entertainment brand and leading through the Covid-19 crisis for the cinema sector.
~9 Years
Corporate Communications — MPCG Circle
Bharti Airtel Ltd.
Nearly a decade at India's largest telecom operator. Led communications for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh circle, earning PRSI Best PR Professional (2014) and ET Telecom Best Communicator (2016). Spearheaded the eShakti CSR programme reaching 1.5 lakh women.
Early Career
Communications
Market City Resources Pvt. Ltd.
Communications and PR role bridging aviation and retail property, developing foundational skills in stakeholder engagement and media management.
Career Beginning
Communications
Jet Airways
Began a career in corporate communications at one of India's most celebrated airlines, learning the craft in a fast-moving, high-stakes industry environment.

Selected Work

Defining Moments

01
Bharti Airtel — CSR / Digital Inclusion
eShakti: Digitally Empowering 1.5 Lakh Women
Conceived and led the eShakti digital literacy initiative in Madhya Pradesh, targeting women in semi-urban and rural communities. Designed communications, grassroots partnerships, and media strategy from the ground up. The programme became a flagship model for Airtel's CSR philosophy.
ImpactDirectly reached 1,50,000 women across Madhya Pradesh. Featured as a national benchmark for telecom-led social impact.
02
PVR INOX — M&A Communications
Managing India's Biggest Cinema Merger
Led all communications for the 2022 PVR-INOX merger — the most significant consolidation in Indian multiplex history. Managed media relations, investor communications, employee messaging, and brand transition narratives across both legacy entities under intense public and regulatory scrutiny.
OutcomeSeamless public narrative during a complex regulatory and operational integration. Combined entity launched with unified brand identity and strong media positioning.
03
INOX Air Products — Industrial Narrative
Telling Industrial India's Story
Crafting the communications strategy for INOX Air Products — a business that powers hospitals, steel plants, space missions, and refineries. The challenge: translating deeply technical industrial operations into compelling public narratives for media, policy stakeholders, and talent attraction.
FocusBuilding long-term brand equity for an industrial group at the heart of India's infrastructure growth story.

Let's Connect

Building narratives
that endure.

Whether you're looking to collaborate on communications strategy, discuss the evolving landscape of corporate storytelling in India, or explore what purposeful PR looks like at scale — Puneet welcomes the conversation.

View LinkedIn Profile
Email
puneet.gupta@inoxap.com
LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/puneet48
Location
Mumbai, India