CVL Srinivas exits WPP India, ending a nine-year power run

MUMBAI: CVL Srinivas will retire as WPP India’s country manager on ’31 March, 2026, bringing down the curtain on a nine-year stretch that reshaped the group’s heft in the country’s bruising advertising market.

Srinivas took the top India job in 2017, succeeding Ranjan Kapur, after joining WPP in 2013 as chief executive of South Asia’s GroupM, now WPP Media. WPP said the succession process has been in motion for more than 15 months, with his successor set to be named in the coming weeks.

Speaking earlier on the group’s recent merger-driven reshuffle, Srinivas said the spotlight on WPP had only sharpened. Despite its scale, he argued, the network continues to work “pretty seamlessly across our agencies”, even as rivals circle for share.

Srinivas, who had indicated his wish to step down at 60, leaves behind a career that tracks the rise of modern media buying in India. He began at J W Thompson Worldwide as media lead for Unilever’s foods and personal care business at HTA Fulcrum, before stints as COO at Madison World, chief executive of Maxus Asia Pacific and chairman of Starcom Mediavest Group India. He also ran GroupM South Asia until 2018.

His departure opens up one of the most closely watched corner offices in Indian advertising, as WPP seeks to keep its edge in a market where global scale and local muscle are increasingly colliding.