MAM
Coca-Cola India appoints Atul Singh as president
MUMBAI: Softdrink major Coca-Cola has appointed Atul Singh as president, India division with effect from 1 September.
Singh will be responsible for leading the India Division in a collaborative manner to ensure sustainable and profitable growth, not only for India and the company, but for the franchise bottlers as well.
He had most recently been appointed president, East, Central & South China Division and was a key member of the leadership team since 2001; initially as region manager, East China, followed by vice president operations, Mainland China, and later as deputy division president, China division.
Prior to joining Coca-Cola China, Singh was vice president operations for Coca-Cola India, responsible for managing the franchise bottlers and key accounts. Before joining Coca-Cola , he held a number of leadership roles at Colgate Palmolive in the United States, Romania and Nigeria.
Singh will be relocating to New Delhi.
Former Coca-Cola India president and CEO Sanjiv Gupta, on the other hand is leaving the company to pursue personal interests.
MUMBAI: Mar-tech network Wondrlab Network is in talks to acquire advertising major Madison World, according to media reports, in a move that could reshape India’s agency landscape.
In a statement shared with Social Samosa, Wondrlab Network founder and CEO Saurabh Varma, confirmed that the group is actively evaluating acquisition opportunities but declined to confirm any specific transaction.
“We have consistently stated that Wondrlab is building for scale, and acquisitions remain an important part of that strategy. We are in discussions with multiple companies across capabilities that strengthen our platform-first, full-funnel marketing and technology offering. Any development will be communicated at the appropriate time,” Varma said.
Wondrlab has pursued acquisitions as part of an ambitious plan to buy 26 agencies across three phases. In 2025, it completed its seventh acquisition, underscoring its appetite for inorganic growth.
According to reports, Madison founder Sam Balsara is seeking around Rs 1,000 crore for the agency. If the Wondrlab deal goes through, it would rank as the largest acquisition of an Indian agency by another Indian agency.
Wondrlab was launched in November 2020 by Saurabh Varma, Vandana Varma, and Rakesh Hinduja. Its first acquisition followed swiftly with the December 2020 purchase of Amit Akali’s creative shop, What’s Your Problem.
Since then, the group has steadily expanded its footprint. It acquired influencer marketing firm Opportune and performance marketing agency Neon in 2022. In 2023, it bought Salesforce consultancy and data analytics firm Cymetrix, alongside Poland-based WebTalk, marking its entry into Europe. It later added influencer marketing agency OPA and, last year, took a majority stake in BigStep Technologies, a generative AI and cloud-native software firm.
Madison, meanwhile, has long been a target for global advertising groups. Over the years, it has drawn interest from WPP, Publicis Groupe and Dentsu. In May 2025, Havas was reported to be the frontrunner, with an offer of about Rs 700 crore for a majority stake.
Earlier talks with WPP in 2015, when Madison was valued at roughly Rs 500 crore, collapsed over valuation and equity differences. Discussions with Publicis and Dentsu also failed to yield a deal.
