There is a particular kind of pressure that comes with inheriting a family business that has operated since before Indian independence. For Siddhant Digvijay Jaitha, that business is Atherton Engineering — one of India's oldest aircraft spare parts companies, founded in 1945 and still active from its base on R N Mukherjee Road in Kolkata. The legacy is real, the expectations are built in, and the easiest path would have been to simply continue what was handed to him.

Instead, Jaitha chose to do both: carry the family legacy forward while building an identity that is entirely his own. From launching a healthy snack brand born out of a personal health crisis to hosting a celebrity podcast that has featured some of India's most recognisable names, he has constructed a public life that spans aviation, food, lifestyle and storytelling — an unusual combination that makes more sense the closer you look.

The Aviation Foundation

Atherton Engineering Co. Pvt. Ltd. was incorporated in 1966 with the Registrar of Companies in Kolkata, though the business itself dates to 1945 — making it one of the earliest Indian companies in the aviation supply chain. The company imports and distributes aircraft spare parts, engines, propellers and avionics, serving both civil and military aviation clients.

Jaitha is a partner in Atherton Aero Distribution Company LLP, the distribution arm incorporated in 2018, alongside his mother Priti Digvijay Jaitha. The family's involvement in aviation spans decades — Jaitha describes himself as a fourth-generation entrepreneur, a claim that is plausible given the 1945 founding date and the family names that appear across the company's directorship records.

The aviation business gave Jaitha something that most young entrepreneurs have to build from scratch: an understanding of how legacy industries work, how long-term relationships sustain a business, and how institutions operate across generations. It also gave him something to push against — the desire to create something that was unmistakably his.

Crunch & Munch: From Health Crisis to Brand

The origin story of Crunch & Munch is personal. Jaitha was diagnosed with Type-2 Diabetes and embarked on a health transformation that would eventually become the foundation of a business. The experience convinced him that healthy eating should not require giving up on taste or experience — a philosophy that became the brand's core proposition.

Co-founded with his sister Niharika Agarwalla, Crunch & Munch positions itself in the premium healthy snack segment: baked, organic, low-calorie products designed for a market that is growing rapidly in urban India. The brand's tagline — 'Eat right with a healthy bite' — is straightforward, and the business has been covered by Hindustan Metro for its approach to scaling wellness-oriented food.

What makes the venture notable is not just the product but the entrepreneurial logic behind it. Jaitha did not enter food because he saw a market gap in a spreadsheet — he entered it because he lived through the problem the brand aims to solve. That kind of founder-problem fit is difficult to manufacture and impossible to fake.

The SDJ Podcast

At the centre of Jaitha's public identity is the SDJ Podcast — a celebrity interview series available on Spotify and other major platforms. The format is conversational: long-form, candid discussions with people whose public personas usually come with a layer of media polish. The podcast aims to go past that layer.

The guest list speaks for itself. Jaitha has hosted conversations with actor Kartik Aaryan, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, actor Urvashi Rautela, Shibani Dandekar, actor Preeti Jhangiani, designer Pria Kataaria Puri, mountaineer Sameera Khan, and entrepreneurs including Naina Parekh of Eume and Vinti Lodha. The range — from Bollywood to business to adventure sport — reflects Jaitha's own interests and the breadth of the audience he is building.

In India's increasingly crowded podcast landscape, the SDJ Podcast has carved out a niche by leaning into the host's own network and curiosity rather than chasing algorithm-friendly formats. It is a platform built around access and authenticity — two things that are hard to scale but impossible to replicate.

The Published Author

Jaitha's first book, 'Life is a Rollercoaster Ride', was published by Poetic Imagica in 2021. Available on Amazon India, the book is aimed at young readers navigating the uncertainties of early adulthood — career choices, setbacks, self-doubt — with a tone that draws on Jaitha's own experiences rather than abstract motivational frameworks.

The book received coverage in Business Standard and reflects a broader pattern in Jaitha's work: the instinct to turn personal experience into shareable content, whether through a snack brand, a podcast or a book. For him, storytelling is not a side project — it is the connective tissue between everything he builds.

Lifestyle and Public Presence

Beyond the businesses and the podcast, Jaitha has built a presence in India's luxury and lifestyle space. His Instagram at @siddhantjaitha documents a life curated around fashion, travel, wellness and events — the kind of content that positions him as a lifestyle influencer in a market where personal branding and business branding are increasingly indistinguishable.

He has also been recognised with the Rajiv Gandhi Icon Award in 2022 and is listed across speaker bureau platforms including SpeakIn and the Indian Speaker Bureau as a keynote and motivational speaker. The speaking circuit gives him another distribution channel for the same themes he returns to across all his work: resilience, health, ambition and the weight of legacy.

The Road Ahead

Jaitha operates at an interesting intersection. The aviation business gives him institutional credibility and financial grounding. Crunch & Munch gives him a consumer brand with a personal origin story. The podcast gives him access and visibility. The books and speaking engagements give him a platform for ideas. Each venture reinforces the others without any single one defining him entirely.

The challenge ahead is the same one that faces any multi-vertical entrepreneur: depth versus breadth. Each venture demands sustained attention, and the risk of spreading too thin is real. But Jaitha's track record suggests he understands the difference between starting things and building them — the aviation business is proof that his family knows how to sustain enterprises across generations.

Legacy gave him the foundation. Curiosity gave him the direction. And courage gave him his voice. Whether the next chapter is a new venture, a bigger podcast or a deeper commitment to one of his existing platforms, the raw material is in place. The story, as the title suggests, is still being written — and Jaitha is holding the pen.

Sources and editorial references

This profile draws on independently verified public sources. Claims have been cross-referenced where possible.

  • Atherton Engineering Co. Pvt. Ltd. — MCA company record (CIN: U51909WB1966PTC026857): thecompanycheck.com
  • Atherton Aero Distribution Company LLP — incorporated Dec 2018: zaubacorp.com
  • Crunch & Munch — brand website and origin story: crunchandmunch.in
  • Hindustan Metro — Building Wellness at Scale: The Crunch & Munch Story: hindustanmetro.com
  • Amazon India — Life is a Rollercoaster Ride by Siddhant Digvijay Jaitha: amazon.in
  • Business Standard — Book launch press coverage (August 2021): business-standard.com
  • SDJ Podcast on Spotify: spotify.com
  • LinkedIn — Siddhant Digvijay Jaitha: linkedin.com
  • Global Cover Story feature — Siddhant Digvijay Jaitha (LinkedIn, August 2026)