MAM
Shaadi.com expands new Pune office marks multi-city growth
Mumbai: Shaadi.com, India’s no-one matchmaking platform announces the opening of its new office in Pune, from August 2023. This significant step heralds a fresh chapter for the company, setting the stage for a broader nationwide presence. With Maharashtra being one of the important markets for Shaadi.com, this move will fortify its presence in the state. The new office is located at Meridian Plaza on the well-connected Senapati Bapat road, which is a cultural epicentre due to its proximity to the Chaturshringi Temple. The new office spans approximately 5,000 sq. ft. and is poised to accommodate a dedicated sales team of over 70 professionals. As a special gesture, this facility also welcomes individuals to visit the premises and personally meet the company’s highest-rated advisors to discuss their prospective marriage needs.
People Group founder & CEO Anupam Mittal, expressed, “With the opening of our Pune office we aim to further strengthen our foothold in the Western region. It’s a growing market with an incredibly young talent pool. Our office is designed keeping in mind an inclusive work atmosphere which will not only enhance efficiency but also help us match our vision of creating a positive experience for our newly inducted team.”
This strategic move by Shaadi.com underscores its commitment to expanding its reach across various cities in India. With a steadfast focus on customer satisfaction and aligned with its progressive business objectives, Shaadi.com aims to cater to its thriving customer base in the country. This expansion initiative will effectively address the dynamic requirements of its clients while further enhancing its extensive business activities. With recently opened offices in Mumbai (Andheri), Chennai, Kolkata and now Pune, the company has plans to further expand in the South market as well. With offices in Hyderabad and Coimbatore in the pipeline, the move would also see Shaadi.com bolster its workforce by 30 per cent by the end of the financial year.
We hold the firm belief that this fresh establishment will empower us to extend meticulous and efficient service to our valued customers, further amplifying our regional presence.
AD Agencies
Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
