MAM
Havas Creative Group India names Samarpita Banerjee as director marketing & comms
Mumbai: Havas Creative Group India, the creative conglomerate of Havas Group India has named Samarpita Banerjee as director of marketing & communications. She will be based out of Mumbai and report to Havas Group India chief marketing officer Pritha Dasgupta.
Banerjee will work across all agencies of Havas Creative Group India, including Havas Worldwide, Havas CX, Think Design, Conran Design Group Mumbai, and Shobiz Havas Experiential. Sneha Pillai Ahuja, senior manager – marketing & communications, will continue to lead corporate communications of Havas Media Group India.
“The complete transformation that the network has witnessed is not just on the back of outstanding business growth but also a result of several industry-first initiatives, like Havas Spark, UN Unstereotype Alliance, Women Who Inspire, Women Bounce Back programme, etc,” said Pritha Dasgupta. “This undoubtedly makes Havas Group India, perhaps the most progressive agency network in India that is deeply invested in making a meaningful difference to the industry and the community at large. With Samarpita coming on board, we will be able to build stronger, more meaningful chronicles around the legacy and the future we are building.”
A media professional with over 10 years of work experience, Banerjee is a senior journalist having worked with some of India’s most reputed print and digital media organisations. She started her journalism stint with The Times of India in 2009, before foraying into the advertising and marketing beat in 2015 with Exchange4media’s weekly magazine, Impact. In her last assignment as Business Insider’s deputy editor, she set up a new vertical for the publication to bring to life engaging stories from the world of advertising, media, and marketing.
“Having interacted with some of the best global and Indian minds in advertising, marketing, and media over the last six years, I wanted to experience the ad world from even closer quarters,” said Banerjee on her new role. “I have been following Havas Group India and its progress work for a long time. When I met Rana and Pritha and heard about the future plans, the new initiatives, and most importantly the progressive culture they are building, I felt like being a part of this journey and building a stronger narrative.”
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
