MAM
Jitender Dabas to exit Cheil X, join Omnicom as BBDO group CEO
Cheil X chief moves to Omnicom to steer BBDO’s creative and growth agenda
MUMBAI: Omnicom Advertising India is set to appoint industry veteran Jitender Dabas as chief executive officer of the BBDO Group, bringing one of the country’s most respected strategy minds into the global network’s top India role.
Dabas currently serves as chief executive officer at Cheil X, a position he took up in May 2025 after more than 14 years at McCann Worldgroup. His move to Omnicom signals another high-profile leadership shift across India’s advertising networks, as agencies sharpen their creative and data-led offerings.
At McCann, Dabas rose through the ranks to become chief operating officer and chief strategy officer for India, a role he held from 2020 to 2025. Before that, he served as chief strategy officer and earlier as executive vice president and head of strategy, shaping brand and business narratives for a wide roster of clients.
His career in planning spans more than two decades, with stints at JWT, Grey Worldwide and Draft FCB Ulka. Across these roles, he built a reputation for blending cultural insight with sharp brand thinking, earning industry recognition and awards along the way.
An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, where he completed a B.Tech, Dabas is known in the industry for his distinctive voice on creativity, effectiveness and the evolving role of advertising.
At Omnicom, he is expected to lead the BBDO Group’s next phase of growth, with a focus on creative strength, integrated capabilities and closer alignment with client business outcomes.
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.
