MAM
Dentsu International appoints Rohit Suri as chief HR officer for South Asia
Mumbai: Dentsu International has announced the appointment of Rohit Suri to the role of chief HR officer (CHRO), South Asia, effective 15 September 2021. The appointment is key to the dentsu India 2.0 transformation agenda which is designed to unlock higher levels of business performance, innovation, and solution-led strategies for its people and clients, said the agency on Monday.
Based in Mumbai, Suri will build a high-performance team in India and Sri Lanka, establishing new skills and talent initiatives while shaping a people-oriented, value-led culture. His core focus will be to drive the India 2.0 transformation journey. According to the company, he will accentuate the leadership agenda and talent pipeline, pivotal in futureproofing the long-term competitiveness of the business.
Suri will report to dentsu Asia Pacific (APAC) CEO and dentsu India, chairman Ashish Bhasin and dentsu APAC, regional HR director, Kinch Ong.
He carries over 23 years of progressive experience in fast-paced Consumer Internet, Technology, and media companies, and has worked across South Asia, APAC, and Europe. Most recently, he was chief talent officer (CTO) at GroupM South Asia, leading human resources and talent operations in the region.
Meanwhile, HR Operations Transformation head, South Asia, Sunil Seth will continue to support the business with a tighter focus on HR Operations transformation and the Sri Lanka market, reporting to Rohit, said dentsu in a media statement.
dentsu APAC CEO and dentsu India chairman Ashish Bhasin said, “This is the beginning of our transformation journey and the dentsu India 2.0 path to success. With Rohit on board, he will be a leading force in our journey in building a new team for South Asia. He will ensure we have a compelling talent acquisition strategy for future talent. This is crucial as the region accelerates in growth and continues on the journey to realising our global ambition of becoming the most integrated network in the world, making us more agile and simpler for our clients to access our world-class capabilities and talents.”
On his new role Suri said, “This is an exciting time and opportunity to join dentsu and be part of a pioneering team of next-generation leaders. With the pandemic, it is important, now more than ever, that we create real human connections and build a powerful culture. How can we bring incremental value by fostering a team spirit of excellence and togetherness? This is what I plan to achieve, together with my team, in the coming months and I cannot wait to get started.”
dentsu Asia Pacific regional HR Director, Kinch Ong, said, “Rohit is a pivotal hire for our team, a well-known name in the industry with a solid track record that we are confident will extend to our dentsu HR function through the impact from his integral role in India’s transformation 2.0.”
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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.
