Published on: August 21, 2026
When the India CMO Index 2026 was published back in May, it provided a necessary snapshot of an industry in transition. As the official media partner for the report, Adtech Today has watched the data spark great conversations. However, while reports offer benchmarks, they rarely capture the “why” behind the numbers. To uncover the stories behind the charts, we joined a discussion hosted by Vivek Sheth, Founder of CMO Assembly, featuring a panel of the industry’s most seasoned leaders.
The panel brought together Himanshu Khanna (Group CMO, CKA Birla Group), Madan Kamit (Head of Marketing, Home Lane), Sazal Batra (Marketing & Strategy, InShorts Group), Siddharth Gupta (Founder, NVecta), Abhijit Panicker (Head of Marketing, Chai Point), and Rahul Karthikeyan (Marketing Lead, Scaler & Interview Bit).
What emerged was a candid look at the friction points of modern marketing, from the “AI workflow” to the “P&L mindset.”
A standout insight from the Index was that while AI adoption is high, deep integration is rare. Madan Kamit challenged the “experimentation” phase, explaining how HomeLane built “Phoenix,” an AI-led marketing operating system. By feeding the brand’s foundational documents and context into a unified system, they moved AI from a “text-generator” to a workflow tool that manages SEO, creative QC, and research.
Rahul Karthikeyan emphasized that the goal of AI should be to shift teams away from execution and toward solving real business problems. Whether it is using AI avatars to bridge production gaps or automating static assets, the focus is on “amplification.” However, Siddharth from NVecta provided a vital technical caveat: many brands are unifying data, but they aren’t unifying intelligence. He argued that the real ROI of AI isn’t just saving on production, but using predictive signals to identify the 10% of customers likely to buy next week.
Read more: India CMO Index 2026: The Report That Asked What No One Usually Does
The Index revealed a recurring tension: 53% of CMOs claim to balance brand and performance, yet performance budgets are the first to be defended under pressure. Sazal Batra noted that this stems from a lack of confidence in brand measurement, marketers often defend what is “trackable” rather than what is valuable.
Abhijit Panicker illustrated this struggle with the reality of the QSR business. In a world where twelve people might walk into a Chai Point but only one bill is cut, digital dashboards rarely reflect the true customer journey. This “attribution gap” remains one of the greatest hurdles for marketing leaders today.
Himanshu Khanna offered the most sobering advice for the modern CMO: “Your first loyalty is to the P&L, not the function.” He argued that if marketers want to be seen as investment centers rather than cost centers, they must speak the language of the CEO. This means moving beyond “engagement metrics” and proving how marketing spend functions as an input KPI for overall business growth.
Finally, the panel addressed the “Pink Shoe Problem”—the industry’s tendency to chase every trending topic (from Barbiecore to the World Cup) until brand differentiation disappears. The consensus was clear: topicality is a tactic, not a strategy. As Vivek Sheth noted, the responsibility of a leader is often to say “no” to the noise to protect the brand’s core identity.
The India CMO Index 2026 emerged not just as a report, but as a living dialogue. This discussion proved that the role of the CMO is no longer just about communication; it is about managing “connected intelligence” and navigating the fine line between human emotion and machine efficiency.
As the industry moves forward, it won’t be the most advanced tools that win, but the leaders who can translate data into better decisions and turn cost centres into growth engines.
Adtech Today is the media partner for the India CMO Index 2026. To explore the full findings, visit thecmoassembly.com.
