The Business of Staying Relevant | Amitava Chatterjee, CEO, Garden Vareli | Yi Surat Samvaad

Yi Surat Samvaad — Episode 01 In Conversation with Mr. Amitava Chatterjee, CEO, Garden Vareli Every enduring business carries more than a balance sheet. It carries decisions, people, changing markets, accumulated wisdom — and a story that evolves with time. For the inaugural episode of Yi Surat Samvaad, we sit down with Mr. Amitava Chatterjee, CEO of Garden Vareli, for a conversation about business, leadership, brands and the realities of building relevance across generations. Garden Vareli is a name deeply connected with India's textile and fashion landscape and particularly familiar to generations of consumers who grew up with the brand. Behind that familiarity lies a larger business story — one shaped by changing consumer aspirations, evolving retail, competition, technology and the constant challenge of remaining relevant while respecting what made a brand valuable in the first place. In this episode, Mr. Chatterjee takes us beyond the brand name and into the thinking behind the business. The conversation explores his professional journey and experiences, his perspective on leadership, the evolution of the textile industry, changing consumer behaviour, building and sustaining brands, managing organisations through change, and the lessons that emerge from spending years close to business and industry. We also explore a question relevant to many of Surat's entrepreneurs and next-generation business leaders: How does an established business preserve the strengths of its legacy without allowing that legacy to become a limitation? The discussion moves between experience and the future — from the fundamentals that remain timeless in business to the forces reshaping how companies will compete, communicate and create value in the years ahead. But Yi Surat Samvaad is not intended to be a collection of polished success stories. Samvaad means dialogue. And through these conversations, we want to understand not merely what people have achieved, but how they think — the decisions they made, the changes they witnessed, the assumptions they questioned, the mistakes that taught them something, and the perspectives they developed along the way. Beginning this journey with Mr. Amitava Chatterjee gives us an opportunity to look at business through the lens of someone who has experienced both continuity and change from inside an established Indian brand. For entrepreneurs, young professionals, family-business leaders, students and anyone curious about how businesses and brands endure, this conversation offers perspectives worth considering. Welcome to the first chapter of Yi Surat Samvaad. A platform by Young Indians (Yi), Surat Chapter, bringing together people, experiences and ideas through meaningful conversation. Yi Surat Samvaad Conversations. Perspectives. Possibilities.