MAM
DDB Mudra Group makes senior appointments
MUMBAI: The DDB Mudra Group has appointed 22feet Tribal Worldwide MD Vineet Gupta as its chief digital officer and, its planning head Aditya Kanthy as chief strategy officer. Gupta and Kanthy will be reporting directly to Group CEO & MD Madhukar Kamath.
Also joining DDB Mudra Group is an industry veteran and OOH specialist, Gour Gupta. He takes over DDB MudraMax’s portfolio of OOH, Events and Experiential as its CEO. Gupta will also be an Executive Director of the DDB Mudra Group.
“In our endeavour to partner our clients towards profitable growth, we have observed that every aspect of the DDB Mudra Group’s work from brand building to promotions design, from developing media strategies to event management is being transformed. These appointments recognize the strategic importance of data and digital technologies to our business. Vineet and Aditya will now work with me alongside Sathyamurthy Namakkal, President, DDB MudraMax Media and my other senior colleagues to build the organization for a future where business results, data and digital are at the heart of creativity, strategy and execution.” said Kamath.
Quoting on his new role, Aditya Kanthy said, “Digital technologies are transforming every aspect of our client’s business from brand building to buying. I’m looking forward to help build the DDB Mudra Group for the future, where Data and Digital are at the heart of creativity and strategy. We’re already seeing glimpses of this in the composition, structure and work of our teams that are partnering J&J, Royal Enfield, VW, Future group, SAP and USL among others. As a Group, we are constantly exploring new ways of working together and learning new skills. It’s a massive opportunity and we’re ready to take it.”
Gupta, who will be taking up his new role as CDO, in addition to his existing position as 22feet Tribal Worldwide MD said, “Data & Digital offer tremendous growth opportunities for our own business and for our clients. I look forward to collaborating with teams across the DDB Mudra Group to help identify and strategically scale these opportunities. The DDB Mudra Group is well poised to offer a strong and differentiated point of view and I am excited.”
Gour Gupta said, “DDB Mudra Group is truly a well-diversified Marketing Services Group. The growth plans for the OOH, Events & Experiential businesses are both interesting and challenging. In Sanjay Shukla, the President in DDB MudraMax, I have a very able ally. I look forward to leading a very strong and committed team that is already in place. This is one journey that I will cherish.”
Madhukar Kamath added “Gour Gupta started his agency career with Mudra. I am thrilled to welcome him as the ED of the DDB Mudra Group and the CEO of our OOH, Events & Experiential businesses. He has been a wonderful partner in our Joint Venture. With the entrepreneurial zeal and experience of Gour in the OOH business and with the proven expertise of Sanjay Shukla in the Events and Experiential space, DDB MudraMax will be a formidable agency to reckon with. Welcome Gour.”
Brands
Zscaler, Airtel launch India AI Cyber Research Centre
New hub to boost cyber resilience and trusted AI use
NEW DELHI: As India’s digital engine roars ahead, so do the risks riding shotgun. In response, Zscaler, Inc. and Bharti Airtel have joined hands to launch the AI and Cyber Threat Research Center – India, a national initiative aimed at strengthening the country’s cyber defences and accelerating responsible AI adoption.
The centre is designed as a multi stakeholder platform that brings together industry, government and academia. Its mission is clear: protect critical sectors such as telecom, banking and energy, shield everyday digital users, and future proof India’s fast expanding online ecosystem.
India has long been a major innovation hub for Zscaler, with a substantial portion of its cyber research talent based here. With this new centre, that footprint evolves into a national collaboration engine. The idea is simple but ambitious, build in India, for India, and help power the country’s journey towards a secure and digitally self reliant future.
The timing is telling. India is building digital systems at population scale, not just enterprise scale. That scale has widened the attack surface dramatically. At the same time, cyber criminals and nation state actors are deploying AI to scan, probe and exploit vulnerabilities in minutes.
Zscaler’s research arm, ThreatLabz India, reports millions of infiltration attempts every month. These include espionage campaigns linked to regional geopolitical tensions, 1.2 million intrusion attempts from 20,000 sources targeting 58 Indian digital entities, and a rise in zero day exploit attempts across multiple industries.
In such an environment, perimeter based security models are struggling to keep pace. The new centre aims to push a shift towards secure by design systems and Zero Trust architecture.
Its strategy rests on four pillars: protect through real time intelligence, remediate by working directly with government agencies, facilitate adoption of AI driven security and Zero Trust frameworks, and build a stronger cybersecurity talent pipeline through specialised certifications.
As founding members, Zscaler and Airtel will combine global threat intelligence with local network visibility. Zscaler will deploy a dedicated India focused research team and draw insights from its Zero Trust Exchange platform, which processes over 500 billion daily transactions worldwide. Airtel, meanwhile, will contribute deep visibility into IoT and mobile traffic, helping detect suspicious activity faster and coordinate response across the ecosystem.
Bharti Airtel executive vice chairman Gopal Vittal, said the partnership extends Airtel’s commitment to safeguarding customers and the nation’s digital fabric. He added that the collaboration would address challenges unique to the Indian market and encourage secure and confident digital engagement.
Zscaler chief executive, chairman and founder Jay Chaudhry, said India’s digital ambition cannot be secured with legacy firewalls and VPNs. He noted that a modern Zero Trust architecture is essential for a hyper connected world and that the new centre would harness the scale of Zscaler’s global security cloud while empowering a new generation of Indian cyber defenders.
Additional members from critical public and private sectors are expected to join the initiative in the coming months, expanding its scope and deepening collaboration.
In a world where threats travel at machine speed, India’s answer is to think faster, collaborate wider and build smarter.
