Darshan Mehta, former managing director and CEO of Reliance Brands—a part of Reliance Retail—passed away on Wednesday at the age of 64. Sources said he suffered a massive heart attack while on a trip to Hyderabad. Mehta was widely known for transforming India’s luxury and lifestyle retail landscape, playing a key role in bringing some of the world’s most iconic premium labels to the country.

Mehta was the MD of Reliance Brands, a company he was associated with for 18 years, before becoming a non-executive director on the firm’s board last November. A chartered and cost accountant by qualification, Mehta did his articleship with PriceWaterhouse in Mumbai in the early 1980s before joining the Arvind group in 1984. He worked with the group for a total of 23 years in various capacities.

But it was as president of Arvind Brands between 2001 to 2007 that he honed his lifestyle retailing skills, where he was instrumental in introducing international sportswear brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Gant, and Nautica to the Indian market.
He took that experience to Reliance Brands, which was also set up in 2007.  He admitted in a number of interviews that he was Reliance Brands’ first employee, eventually hiring over 750 people in the company and over 5,000 people at its stores across the country.

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He partnered with over 50 brands including names such as Ermenegildo Zegna, Giorgio Armani, Bottega Veneta, Jimmy Choo, Burberry, Steve Madden, Salvatore Ferragamo, Muji and Pottery Barn among others at Reliance Brands.
The company is also invested in Indian menswear designer Raghavendra Rathore’s eponymous label, apart from fashion designers Manish Malhotra, Rahul Mishra, Anamika Khanna, Abraham & Thakore, Abu Jani & Sandeep Khosla, and Ritu Kumar.

According to RIL FY24 annual report, despite a 13% year-on-year increase in total revenue to Rs 2,303 crore, Reliance Brand’s losses widened by 55% to Rs 288.4 crore from Rs 185.16 crore in FY23. The increase in sales did not translate into profitability for brands such as Diesel Fashion India and Paul & Shark, which Reliance Brands controls.