MxMIndia

Tag: Sanjeev Gupta

  • Best Covid-19 related photography

    Dainik Bhaskar wins Gold at WAN IFRA Asian Media Awards

    By Our Staff

     

    DB Corp Limited has bagged Gold at the WAN-IFRA Asian Media Awards 2022 for its Bhopal edition  in the Best Covid-19 related photography category.

     

    Commenting on the recognition, Avnish Jain, State Editor, Madhya Pradesh said: “At Dainik Bhaskar, our editorial philosophy is ‘Kendra Mein Pathak’, and we believe the very reason for our existence is our reader’s trust in us. During the second wave of Covid, it was our bounden duty to investigate and report an apparent disconnect in the government’s data and the reality on the ground. Given the extant circumstances, this was undoubtedly fraught with risk – especially to the health of our staff. Our reporters visited and gathered data from local crematoriums and burial grounds, and in one such incident in Madhya Pradesh, the government had reported only 4 deaths, but 112 funerals were done as per Covid protocol and our photographer captured this heart wrenching picture at one of the crematoriums.”

     

    Added Sanjeev Gupta, the photographer who took the picture (“Burning Pyres are not lying”: “It was a truly gut-wrenching sight when I visited the Bhadbhada Vishram Ghat crematorium ground at Bhopal on April 15, 2021. I still get goosebumps remembering the day. It was a surreal feeling to see more than 40 pyres burning on the cremation ground. But perhaps the most distressing feeling was looking at the fact that while some of the departed had their dear ones close by, albeit it in PPE Kits, a lot of the departed had absolutely no one as they took their final journey.”

     

  • Here's what a cross-section of industry persons said on the Union Budget from the M&E standpoint

    What they say about Budget 2016-17

     

    Here’s what a cross-section of industrypersons said on the Union Budget from the M&E standpoint

     

    Rakesh Jariwala, Partner & Head – M&E Tax Advisory – India, EY (Ernst & Young)

    “As part of the budget proposals, India has levied an equalisation levy – what is known as ‘google tax’ globally. The tax @ 6% of the consideration will apply on services relating to online advertisement, provisions on online ad space or other facility or services for the purpose of online advertisement, when such services are provided by a non-resident to either an Indian resident or a non-resident having a permanent establishment in India. The payer for these services are required to deduct 6% prior to making the payment. This is the first time that online services are being taxed in India.”

     

    Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18, and Chairman, National Media and Entertainment Committee, CII:

    “Kudos to the government for presenting a disciplined and inclusive budget. The emphasis on rural development and commitment to the fiscal deficit target augur well for the economy in the long-run. The proposal for a more conducive excise duty regime for STBs and other ‘entertainment-access devices’ is welcome. While many of us from the industry were anticipating more sector-specific announcements, I’m sure that this budget will benefit the larger economy and therefore, by extension, have a positive impact on our industry as well.”

     

    Ashish Bhasin’s (Chairman & CEO South Asia – Dentsu Aegis Network and Chairman Posterscope & MKTG – Asia Pacific):

    “Overall there are some positives and some negatives in the Budget. On the positive side, not increasing the service tax is a positive, particularly for the advertising and media sector. General expectation was that Service Tax may go up in anticipation of higher GST rates. Controlling the fiscal deficit and several steps to invigorate the rural economy and rural consumption are positive signals. A rural consumption revival will help the economy and the advertising and media sector tremendously. On the negative side, there was an expectation, based on what the Finance Minister said in the past, that corporate tax rates would come down. That is not to be so for most large companies. Introducing double taxation on dividends  is also a negative.  In balance this seems to me to be a mixed bag budget with a positive bias. If it is able to spur overall economic growth, we could see good times ahead for the advertising and media sector.”

     

    M K Anand, MD & CEO Times Network

    “Digitisation, in my opinion is the most important factor for the Broadcast sector currently, we are very happy about the excise duty changes proposed for Set Top boxes which will help in the last mile infrastructure of DAS 3 and 4. Overall a stable and positive fiscal situation is good for the economy and that will support our Ad Sales growth projections. All in all Budget 2016 looks good for the Broadcast sector.

     

    Vivek Gambhir, Managing Director, GCPL:

    “Overall, this is a responsible “Rural First” Budget that attempts to revive demand, while continuing on the path of fiscal consolidation. For the FMCG sector, initiatives to support the revival of rural and urban consumption should help bring growth back on track. Focused efforts on alleviating rural distress and uplifting the agrarian economy, will help put more money in the hands of farmers. Statutory backing of the Aadhar scheme will ensure more targeted delivery of benefits to those who need it. The need of the hour is job creation and focusing on skilling and education to make people more employable. The implementation of transformative reforms, like the GST, at the earliest, are however imperative to fast track economic growth and boost consumer confidence. Given the Government’s intent to stick to its path of fiscal consolidation, we look forward to an interest rate cut or more liquidity in the system to drive private capital investment. Going forward, given the plethora of schemes that have been announced, it will be important to deliver on the promises made through effective on-the-ground execution.

     

    Sanjay Sethi, CEO, Shopclues.com

    “Finance Minister Mr Arun Jaitley has certainly made several important announcements for start-ups in his Union Budget speech. We are pleased that a sizeable sum has been allocated for ventures founded by women entrepreneurs and members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. This is a great step towards empowerment and inclusive growth for those communities that have hitherto found less representation in business. The fact that start-ups will get 100% tax exemption for three years  out of 5 years  and long terms capital gain for unlisted companies has been reduced from 3 years to 2 years will also be a great boost to the economy and will aid in creation of jobs. However, we do believe that overall a lot more impetus could have been given to the start-up ecosystem through this budget.”

     

    Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers:.

    “We are glad that there is no increase in taxes. Since the government is said to be pro-development and has allotted significant money for the rural infrastructure, railways and road development, we think it’s a positive sign for our future. We are also seeing great potential in expanding our reach to small cities now. The finance minister has also hinted at amending motor vehicles act for better transportation facility in the country. This may give us the opportunity to position our ads more effectively while on the move. We feel that in this critical economic condition, the budget has been so far satisfactory for the advertising industry.

     

  • Mr Ram will head Global Advertisers' pan-India marketing initiatives

    Global Advertisers appoints Sudhendu Ram as National Head Marketing

    By  A Correspondent

     

    Sudhendu Ram
    Sanjeev Gupta

    Leading outdooradvertising agency Global Advertisers has strengthened its team with Sudhendu Ram appointed to head marketing initiatives pan-India. The agency has expanded its business in Tier II and III cities wherein large scale of BTL activities are taking place.

     

    Commenting on the appointment, Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers, said “The outdoor industry is undergoing tremendous change, brands are now exploring new opportunities to tap consumers of tier II and tier III cities. Therefore, to cope up with the increasing demand, we have roped in several senior professionals and young talent this year. Now we have Sudhendu on our board to maximize our reach and improve the quality of our service. We wish him all the best for his new challenge.”

     

    Speaking on the association with Global Advertisers, Mr Ram, said “My aim is to take Global to the next level of media engagement and recall with my deep understanding of media and expertise in terms of networking and knowledge.”

     

  • Rudolf Fernando, former All India President of Navabharat Group, has been appointed as National Head of the recently expanded four regional sales divisions of outdoor agency Global Advertisers.

    Rudolf Fernando is National Sales Head of Global Advertisers

    By A Correspondent

     

    Rudolf Fernando

    Rudolf Fernando, former All India President of Navabharat Group, has been appointed as National Head of the recently expanded four regional sales divisions of outdoor agency Global Advertisers. He will report to Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers. His core responsibility involves strategizing, designing, execution and media planning of outdoor campaign executed across the country.

     

    Mr Fernando has over 20 years of experience in the media industry. He started his career with Free Press Journal in Mumbai. National publications like Dainik Bhaskar and comedy TV channel Sab TV were also part of his career graph. Later he joined Navabharat Media Solutions to head their sales department.

     

    Mr Fernando says, “My role has widened with challenges and opportunities. Through my skills and understanding of the media industry, I am confident of expanding the client portfolio of Global in the coming season.”

     

    Commenting on the appointment, Mr Gupta said, “Rudolf will leverage our presence across four regions and he will also be assisting the team leaders in pitching new clients. His expertise and experience will bring out innovation, fresh approach and better execution at a larger scale.”

     

  • It's the season for seminars and conclaves. While a fair bit of time, money and energy is spent on these events, but are they really worth one's while?

    MxM Mondays: How useful are conferences?

     

    By Johnson Napier

     

    It’s that time of the year when honchos and executives across industry domains squeeze out time from their schedules to catch up on trends and events. It’s the season for conferences and all-day seminars, especially for folk from Media. After the Indian Magazine Congress 2013 that was held a fortnight ago, delegates will fill the halls at Hotel Renaissance, Powai for FICCI Frames 2013.

     

    But while conclaves and industry gatherings do serve a purpose, there have been questions about the quality of discussions and relevance of topics, and whether they have brought about any impact or change. The lack of new ideas at these dos also bothers those who attend the events with the hope of getting something more.

     

    MxMIndia asked industrywallahs what they think of conferences and whether more needs to be done in terms of relevance and generation of new ideas.

     

    Anwesh Bose, Senior VP, DDB Mudra Max

    “Well, the ideas are there but the discussions are not well thought of. What happens at most conferences is that things get left at the discussion stage and it doesn’t go any further. There is no effort seen where it comes to implementing solutions. Also, most of the events are sponsor-driven and are not taken seriously. Even something like Goafest is more of a celebration thing than something that is followed at Cannes. So when organisers send out invites they should be serious about whom they are calling and what they intend to achieve by hosting such seminars.”

     

    Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers

    “The Indian media industry is at a nascent stage in comparison to western countries. We need to continuously improve our methods, approach and strategy. And for that, we need to have common platforms to discuss our challenges and difficulties with industry experts more often. Trade shows, exhibitions of new technology, conferences, workshops all have various topics to discuss including new trends and growth pattern of the industry. We would like to suggest that these conferences should be more interactive, touch new subjects and discuss data from an Indian perspective.

     

    “The numbers of media conferences in India are still very less, we need to organize more such events in future for the betterment of the industry. We would also like to suggest that we need to organize these shows in Tier II & Tier III cities to understand the needs of rural India.”

     

    Nisha Narayanan, Senior VP – Projects and Programming, 93.5 Red FM

    “Conferences are good platforms for germination of ideas and are good conversation builders. When industry leaders from media sit at a forum together, conversations that get built give fresher and newer perspective to issues being discussed. However it has a fair chance of being repetitive if the topics are the same and the policy has not changed.

     

    “For instance since 2006 of phase 2 of FM radio, the radio players have the same issues and regardless of the event, the same issues become rather boring to the audience. Now with phase 3, we hope to engage people with fresh concerns and celebrations.”

     

    Krishna Prasad, Editor-in-chief, Outlook

    “Trade conferences provide a legitimate forum for networking and schmoozing. But individuals and institutions which organize and take part in them need to jump out of the box of cliches if they have to fulfil their core mandate, which is presumably to inspire and throw new light. In other words, there needs to be more ‘disruption’, rather than everybody nodding their heads sagely between checking their phones and yawning. And there needs to be more intense questioning of the holy cows, rather than blind acceptance of their received and perceived wisdom.”

     

    Prema Sagar, Principal and Founder, Genesis Burson-Marsteller

    “Conferences in India, trade or otherwise, were deeply boring in the years gone by. In recent times, the subjects are more global in scope with local focus. Every expert, speaker and academician is happy to be part of conferences in India…. there are now better speakers with good content and articulation, there is more learning on new subjects, and networking is always a great takeaway. What needs to improve is better planning and execution of events, follow-up papers on subjects that provide further value to those attendees who value the ongoing engagement.”

     

     

    Srinivasan K Swamy, CMD, RK Swamy BBDO

    “Good conferences with a timely and focused theme and a set of good speakers are always relevant. Unfortunately we have too many of these undifferentiated ones. They all have the same topics discussed, the same speakers and more often the same audience! Also in many conferences there is too much selling by the speaker about his company, and that is a put-off for audiences.

     

    “Some introspection is needed before embarking on the next conference on three dimensions: Is the theme addressing the current and the immediate needs of the intended audience? Can we divide this theme into topics that can be looked at closely, multi-dimensionally? Can we get engaging speakers to address the chosen subjects – not something they can repackage from their earlier presentations?”