PepsiCo's Gaurav Wadhwa joins Saavn

He joins as vice-president of entertainment and original content.

Saavn has appointed Gaurav Wadhwa, former senior marketing consultant at PepsiCo, as its new vice-president for entertainment and original content.

With over a decade's worth of experience, Wadhwa has built and curated content for some of the world's top brands such as Red Bull, MTV, Mountain Dew, and Pepsi.

Paramdeep Singh, Saavn's co-founder and executive chairman says, "Wadhwa's award-winning experience, combined with his genuine passion for music, culture, and technology, makes him absolutely ideal to lead Saavn's music initiatives."

Wadhwa, on his part, looks forward to his new appointment. "I'm excited to join Saavn and work with some of India's most talented content creators and entertainment platforms to create a next generation media-tech brand. It's not every day that you get to create a whole new category from scratch, but that's the kind of incredible opportunity we have at Saavn."

Wadhwa, who will be based in Mumbai, will manage the development of new content verticals. He will head Saavn's recently-announced initiative to expand beyond mainstream music. He will lead the development of the company's new sports and comedy, as well as other channels.

Wadhwa's experience of 11 years has seen him work with MTV to develop music programming and brand solutions. He has launched Red Bull in India through alternative sports, music, and culture marketing. He has also launched Pepsi's big cola innovation and led the Pepsi MTV Indies programme.

Saavn is growing at a rapid rate globally and is currently accessed in more than 150 countries. It offers 20 million tracks in 11 Indian languages -- Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, and Bhojpuri.