MAM
Dentsu expands India executive council post Ohri’s relocation
MUMBAI: With an aim to drive the group’s business in India, Dentsu Aegis Network has expanded its executive council in the country. The move comes post the recent relocation of Rohit Ohri to Singapore.
The council consists of leaders of all the Network companies and heads of key functions. This will give the network in India an opportunity to offer specialist services to their clients under one umbrella.
Chaired by Dentsu Aegis Network chairman and CEO South Asia Ashish Bhasin, the executive council includes Anand Bhadkamkar (Group Finance), Dimple Maheshwary (HR), Divya Karani (Dentsu Media), Simi Sabhaney (Dentsu Communications), Makato Nakao (Japanese International Clients), Kartik Iyer (Carat), Haresh Nayak (Posterscope), Sidharth Rao (Dentsu Webchutney), Narayan Devanathan (Dentsu Creative Impact), Shamsuddin Jasani (Isobar), Vivek Bhargava (iProspect), Nabendu Bhattacharyya (Milestone Brandcom), Rajiv Dingra (WAT Consult), Umesh Shrikhande (Taproot Dentsu), S. Yesudas (Vizeum) and R. Ravishankar (psLIVE). C.P Arora will be a special invitee.
“I am proud to say that we are the only media and advertising group in India to provide world-class specialist services with such depth under one umbrella,” said Bhasin.
“We want to offer our clients all the benefits of specialization without the hassles of silos and our unique One P&L structure enables us to do so. Consequently, the Executive Council has the important role of capitalizing on this advantage. Since we have been the fastest growing agency group for two years in a row, we are now amongst the top 3 groups in India. By Dec 2017 we aim to be the top 2, which will be a mandate for this Council,” he added.
The members of the executive council will be encouraged to think beyond their immediate roles for the efficiency of the group’s 1700 personnel across seven cities and 15 companies.
With specialist companies like Posterscope and Milestone (OOH), Taproot Dentsu (creative), Carat (media) and with nearly 700 personnel across the digital space in SEO, SEM, and social media, the expanded Executive Council will now aim to build on this momentum.
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.
