MAM
Sorrell raises WPP growth forecasts
MUMBAI: WPP Group, the world‘s largest advertising conglomerate, has raised the 2011 growth forecasts and predicted a boost in its dividend.
The group had previously expected its individual businesses to grow between 3 and 4 per cent in the coming year.
Speaking at a media conference, chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell said: “Actually, it‘s stronger than that. It is coming through stronger. WPP at this stage is seeing pretty good strength across the board”.
The resurgence in the US and China and the uplift in traditional advertising markets have contributed to the company‘s growing optimism.
Sorrell also noted that WPP, which has 2,400 offices in 107 countries, has grown by 4.5 per cent in the year to the end of October and that its “highly likely” that the group would notch up 15 per cent dividend growth rate in the latter half of 2010.
According to him the group, which owns agencies such as Ogilvy & Mather and JWT, is now intending to increase the dividend for 2011. He also cautioned that the European debt crisis hasn‘t had any impact yet, though it was causing “massive uncertainty” and it is still “too early to predict”.
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
