Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd. (ABFRL) has expanded the leadership mandate of Sooraj Bhat, appointing him as Chief Executive Officer of the W and Aurelia brands, in addition to his existing role overseeing the company’s ethnic wear portfolio.
Bhat currently serves as CEO of ABFRL’s Ethnic Business, where he leads a portfolio comprising Jaypore, Tasva, Shantanu & Nikhil, and House of Masaba. With this expanded mandate, he will now also steer strategy and operations for W and Aurelia, two of ABFRL’s prominent women’s ethnicwear brands.
Bhat brings over two decades of experience within ABFRL, having joined the organisation in 2002 as a Brand Operations Manager with Louis Philippe. Over the years, he has held a series of progressively senior leadership roles across the company’s portfolio, including Brand Director and Brand Head of Allen Solly, where he led a turnaround that earned him the Chairman’s Award for Exceptional Contributor to Business in 2014. He went on to serve as Chief Operating Officer across multiple brand clusters including Allen Solly, Louis Philippe, and Van Heusen, before being elevated to CEO of the Fast Fashion Business, overseeing brands such as Forever 21, People, and the company’s international brand portfolio.
In 2020, Bhat took on the role of Deputy Chief Executive Officer, leading the Product Leadership Function across Design, Buying, Sourcing, Planning, and External Brands, before assuming his current position as CEO of the Ethnic Business in September 2022.
With the addition of W and Aurelia, Bhat’s expanded portfolio underscores ABFRL’s continued focus on strengthening its presence across the ethnic and fusion wear segments, bringing together design, product, and operational expertise under a unified leadership umbrella.
