Global fintech platform Pine Labs has appointed Shalini Pillai as its new Chief Marketing Officer, as the company sharpens its global expansion strategy and deepens its push into AI-led payments infrastructure.
Pillai will lead global marketing strategy, product marketing, marcom and brand positioning across Pine Labs’ international footprint.
The appointment comes at a time when the company is integrating advanced AI capabilities across its payment products and developer productivity tools, and has recently announced a key collaboration with OpenAI.
Pillai joins from Microsoft, where she served as Marketing Director – India and South Asia. A decade-plus veteran of Google and Microsoft, and a former entrepreneur, she brings nearly two decades of experience across consumer apps, digital payments and enterprise ecosystems.
Her career spans both B2C and B2B marketing. At Google, she led consumer apps marketing in India, steered GPay and new business initiatives marketing, and drove growth across the India SMB segment. Earlier, she co-founded BrandIdea Consultancy, building tools for market planning and ROI analytics. She began her professional journey at Coca-Cola India in sales and brand roles. An MBA from the Indian School of Business, Pillai has worked across boardrooms and startups, combining deep-tech positioning with data-driven growth execution.
Announcing the appointment, B Amrish Rau, CEO, Pine Labs, said, “Shalini brings deep technology-led marketing experience across both B2C and B2B global big techs. Her long tenures in scaling digital products, building data-driven growth engines, and driving integrated brand and product marketing give her a full-stack perspective. This positions her strongly to lead the next phase of marketing transformation and growth for the Pine Labs group.”
Pillai said the fintech sector is entering a new phase defined by integrated infrastructure. “The next era of fintech is defined by integrated infrastructure that powers global commerce,” she said.
“Sitting at the intersection of merchant relationships and sovereign-scale technology, Pine Labs provides the unified engine turning consumer intent into immediate execution. I am eager to drive our integrated market strategy, scaling Pine Labs’ footprint to deliver compounding commercial value on a global scale.”
