MAM
10th Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm to kick off from 20 Feb
MUMBAI: Car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki is set to flag off its annual desert motorsport event, Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm, on 20 February from New Delhi.
In its 10th edition, Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm would pass through the rugged, inhospitable and challenging terrains of Rajasthan and Gujarat. Ace rallyists will compete against each other on the TSD (Time Speed Distance) format (barring Xtreme category) to cover over 3500 km, in a span of six days.
In terms of route, the rally has done a 180 degree flip by starting from New Delhi as against Ahmedabad the previous year.
Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm builds on the night rallying experience by integrating it in the first leg itself. Night rallying was introduced last year. After flag off from New Delhi, the rally will undertake the testing night rallying leg before entering destinations such as Sardarshahar, Bikaner and Pokaran.
In its third leg, the Rally would cover treacherous terrains of the great Thar Desert in Jaisalmer and drylands of Bhuj. Here on, the rally would enter the marshy landscape of the great Rann of Kutch in the final lap. After six action packed days, the rally will culminate on 25 February in Ahmedabad.
Maruti Suzuki has also fielded its employee teams for the rally, including an all women team driving the all new Swift. For the first time, this year‘s rally would see introduction of truck category. Four AMW, trucks will compete in the Endure category.
Maruti Suzuki chief GM marketing Shashank Srivastava said, “Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm has had an interesting and fascinating decade long journey. From a humble beginning of a few aspirants‘ way back in 2002 to over 280 enthusiasts now, the rally has emerged as one of the most sought after motorsports events in the country. Every year we face the challenge of bringing more excitement and thrills in the rally. Our core team tries to build on this aspect either by adding newer routes or new categories and even modifying routes making them more challenging to drive on for the rallyists.”
“It is these sustained efforts in motor sports that have made our motorsports events Maruti Suzuki Raid-de-Himalayas, Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm and Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare popular picks. It is heartening to see an ever increasing participation of motorsport enthusiasts every year in these rallies.”
Built around the time-speed-distance (TSD) format, the rally has been designed to offer an unadulterated joy of off-roading to motorsport enthusiasts. Depending on the endurance levels, the rally has been split into 3 categories: Xtreme, Xplore and Ndure. At all levels, it tests the nerve and grit of all participants and their machines.
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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.
