Active Clothing Co. Ltd. has appointed Shivanee Shankar Dutt as Chief Executive Officer – New Business Initiatives, a move that signals the apparel manufacturer is building dedicated leadership capacity around growth rather than running expansion through its existing line management.

Dutt will be based at the company's corporate office in Gurugram. In the new role, she will work with Rajesh Mehra and the leadership team to identify new business opportunities and develop strategic partnerships, the company said.

The creation of a CEO-level position focused on new business is the concrete commercial fact here. For a manufacturer, that structure usually means one of two things: management sees demand or partnership opportunities it cannot capture through its current commercial setup, or it wants a senior owner of diversification — new channels, new customer segments, new product adjacencies — so that day-to-day production operations are not distracted by it. Active Clothing has not specified which categories or markets Dutt will target, and the announcement stops short of naming revenue goals, timelines or the investment behind the mandate.

What the appointment does confirm is organizational intent. Dutt reports into a structure that includes Rajesh Mehra, which places the new business agenda inside the top leadership team rather than in a separate incubation unit. For Active Clothing's existing customers and vendor partners, that arrangement matters for lead-time and account-continuity questions: growth initiatives led from the corporate office typically draw on shared capacity and commercial relationships, so brands sourcing from the company will want clarity on whether new partnerships will compete for the same production slots or sit alongside them.

The company has not disclosed Dutt's prior roles, the effective date beyond the announcement, or the size of any team she will build. Those are gaps sourcing professionals will read closely. A new-business CEO hired without published capacity or capital commitments is an announced intention, not a measured result; the proof points — signed partnerships, new customer accounts, added production or service lines — will come later and will define whether the role becomes a growth engine or an administrative layer.

The appointment also fits a pattern trade buyers know well: Indian apparel manufacturers adding corporate development roles as they compete for diversified order books and deeper relationships with brands, moving beyond pure cut-and-make engagements. Whether Active Clothing pursues licensing, private-label deepening, joint ventures or new export channels remains unstated in the announcement.

For now, the confirmed facts are these: Dutt holds the CEO – New Business Initiatives title, she sits in Gurugram, and she works alongside Rajesh Mehra and the leadership team on opportunity identification and strategic partnerships. The industry will watch for her first concrete deals — and for any capacity, certification or channel investments that follow them.