MAM
Grapes appoints Partha Sengupta as creative director
Mumbai: Integrated marketing agency Grapes has announced the appointment of Partha Sengupta as creative director. He will be based out of the agency’s Delhi office and will report to the chief operating officer and strategy head Shradha Agarwal.
In this role, Sengupta will be responsible for the agency’s creative output for brands. He will supervise the creative teams, assist in campaign conceptualisation, and will overlook art and creative teams, respectively.
Prior to this, Sengupta was associated with Wunderman Thompson as a senior creative director for more than three years. He has been instrumental in conceptualising campaigns of several brands.
“We are pleased to welcome Partha to the team. He comes with years of creative experience in the advertising fraternity and is a great asset to us as he holds impeccable expertise in conceptualising and executing creative ideas for brands,” said Shradha Agarwal. “I am confident that he will continue to be an amazing leader, he brings not just the experience but the kind of enthusiasm and passion he entails has inspired us. I am sure he will deliver astonishing work, and I could see an exciting time for the agency.”
In his 13 years of advertising experience, Sengupta has worked on brands like Coke, TATA, Pepsico, Reckitt Benckiser, Nestle, Aircel, Uninor, to name a few. After graduating from the National Institute Of Design, he had worked in agencies like McCann Worldgroup, Rediffusion DY&R, and J Walter & Thompson, Havas worldwide.
“Advertising gives me the scope to solve problems for brands through design, art, and creative strategy. I look forward to working with the teams and assisting them to deliver creative solutions for our clients,” said Partha Sengupta on his new role.
Brands
Airtel, Jio, Vi quietly raise tariffs with tweaks ahead of major hike
Airtel, Jio and Vi test subscriber response with subtle plan changes
NEW DELHI: India’s top telecom operators, including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea, are quietly reworking their prepaid plans in what appears to be a calculated run-up to a broader tariff hike expected later this year.
Rather than announcing headline-grabbing price increases, the operators are opting for subtle tweaks that are less likely to trigger immediate consumer backlash. Industry observers describe this as a “testing the waters” approach, where small changes help gauge subscriber sensitivity while gradually improving revenues.
Among the most visible moves is plan pruning. Airtel has discontinued its popular Rs 799 pack, widely seen as a high-value offering, while nudging up the price of its Rs 859 plan to Rs 899. The changes may seem marginal, but across millions of users, they translate into meaningful revenue gains.
Reliance Jio, on its part, has taken a sharper route by slashing the validity of its Rs 195 plan from 90 days to just 30 days. The price remains unchanged, but the value per day has dropped steeply, effectively raising costs for consumers without altering headline tariffs.
Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea is restructuring its “NonStopHero” packs, limiting unlimited data benefits to night hours in several circles. The move trims usage flexibility while keeping plan positioning largely intact.
Another common tactic is bundling. Operators are increasingly pairing plans with OTT subscriptions such as streaming services, framing price adjustments as value additions even when the core offering remains largely unchanged.
The broader goal behind these moves is to lift ARPU (Average Revenue Per User), a key profitability metric in the telecom business. Airtel is targeting an ARPU of around Rs 300, up from roughly Rs 250, while Jio is under pressure to demonstrate stronger revenue growth ahead of a potential IPO. For Vodafone Idea, the urgency is more immediate as it seeks higher cash flows to fund 5G expansion and manage outstanding dues.
Industry estimates suggest that these incremental changes are a precursor to a larger, industry-wide tariff hike of 15 to 20 per cent, likely towards the end of 2026. The delay in announcing a full-scale increase is partly due to macroeconomic concerns, including inflation and volatile fuel prices, which could dampen consumer sentiment.
The push to monetise 5G is also gathering pace. After investing more than Rs 3 lakh crore in next-generation networks, operators are expected to gradually phase out free 5G data and reposition it as a premium service.
For consumers, the impact is already visible in small but steady increases in monthly bills. For telcos, however, this is a carefully choreographed build-up, easing users into higher spending before the bigger pricing reset arrives.
