MAM
Facebook signs first agency deal in India with GroupM
MUMBAI: During her recent visit, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, signed the company’s first agency deal in India with WPP’s integrated media and marketing company, GroupM.
“Our partnership with GroupM will benefit clients to reach over 100 million people in India, 84 million on mobile — both smartphone and feature phone — and custom audiences within the 100 million in urban and rural India.” said Facebook India head Kirthiga Reddy. “We’re excited about this wide-ranging collaboration which combines the strength of the world’s best global advertising platform with GroupM’s market-leading position to deliver personalised marketing at scale.”
GroupM has been creating cutting edge digital solutions for clients and given its access to data and research and has been integrating digital with traditional media for its clients. GroupM south Asia CEO CVL Srinivas said, “We are delighted with the Facebook partnership that can help unlock even greater value for our clients. We work closely with Facebook globally, regionally and locally. India is projected to be the largest country for Facebook by people very soon and we see exciting possibilities for our clients. This partnership adds to the set of enablers we have created over the years that can help drive digital adoption in our market.”
For Nokia Lumia, GroupM pioneered the deployment of Facebook’s outcome measurement and leveraged Facebook’s sophisticated targeting capabilities to deliver a 54x return on Facebook ad spend.
Once again, leveraging Facebook’s sharp targeting capability, GroupM delivered outstanding results for Arrow, a premium apparel brand. Arrow was running an end of season sale and wanted to drive a special discount promotion to an audience between 18 to 35 years old residing in metro cities. Arrow was able to deliver a 30x return on Facebook ad spend and a significant redemption rate from this exclusive Facebook campaign.
To add to its digital offerings, last year GroupM India launched Mash Up, a digital content unit which has been creating engaging digital content solutions for brands, the most recent being the digital video campaign with Kapil Sharma for Honda Mobilio. GroupM also manages a specialist mobile advertising company, Madhouse, bringing brands together with mobile media publishers to unleash the power of mobile. Its full service digital marketing agencies Quasar and Blazar include end to end digital solutions for advertising across the web, social media, search, analytics and creative services. As part of the renewed focus on digital, GroupM in the past year has evolved its practices in content, movie activation, experiential marketing and analytics.
Brands
Wipro hires 7,500 freshers, withholds FY27 hiring outlook
Profit rises to Rs 3,522 crore, Rs 15,000 crore buyback announced.
MUMBAI- Hiring may be on, but visibility is off, Wipro is adding talent even as it pauses the crystal ball. The company hired 7,500 freshers in FY26 but stopped short of offering any hiring outlook for FY27, underscoring the uncertainty gripping the IT services sector as it pivots towards an AI-led operating model.
The disclosure came alongside its fourth-quarter earnings, where management flagged volatile demand conditions and refrained from committing to future workforce expansion. Chief human resources officer Saurabh Govil noted that over 3,000 of the total hires were onboarded in the March quarter alone, signalling continued intake despite a lack of clarity on deployment pipelines.
This divergence active hiring without forward guidance reflects a broader industry pattern where talent acquisition continues even as deal conversions remain uneven and client spending cycles stretch. Wipro expects its IT services revenue for the June quarter to range between a decline of 2 per cent and flat growth sequentially in constant currency terms, reinforcing near-term caution.
Chief executive officer Srini Pallia pointed to artificial intelligence as both a disruptor and an opportunity. He said evolving client priorities are pushing the company towards outcome-driven engagements, with Wipro increasingly focusing on a services-as-software model through its AI Native Business and Platforms unit. The shift marks a structural change from traditional headcount-led growth to AI-enabled delivery frameworks.
The company has already committed over $1 billion to its AI ecosystem, with investors closely watching how these investments translate into revenue. For now, the numbers present a mixed picture. Net profit rose sequentially to Rs 3,522 crore, while revenue grew 3 per cent to Rs 24,236 crore. However, core IT services performance remained under pressure, with full-year revenue declining 0.3 per cent in dollar terms and 1.6 per cent in constant currency.
Large deal bookings offered a counterpoint, rising 45.4 per cent year-on-year to $7.8 billion, highlighting a widening gap between deal wins and actual revenue realisation. On a quarterly basis, IT services revenue slipped 1.2 per cent sequentially, signalling continued softness in execution.
Margins, however, told a more optimistic story. Operating margins expanded to 17.3 per cent in the fourth quarter, up from 14.8 per cent in the previous quarter, reflecting improved cost discipline. That said, the company cautioned that upcoming wage hikes and the ramp-up of large deals could exert pressure going forward.
Attrition stood at 13.8 per cent in the March quarter, indicating stabilisation after periods of elevated churn. Alongside its earnings, Wipro also announced a Rs 15,000 crore share buyback, reinforcing its focus on shareholder returns, with a payout ratio of 88 per cent over the past three years.
Taken together, the numbers capture a company in transition investing in AI, maintaining hiring momentum, but navigating a demand environment where growth is uneven and visibility remains limited.
