MAM
Indian Marketing Awards 2014 Winners Announced
MUMBAI: Indian Marketing Awards 2014 (IMA), India’s first overall marketing awards were announced at a gala evening celebrating the finest and trend-setting work in the marketing arena.
The awards spanned 10 categories (Brand Activation; Brand Revitalisation; Business-to-Business Marketing; Cause Related Marketing; Consumer Insight; Digital Marketing, Social Media, Mobile Marketing; E-Commerce; Marketing Communication; Marketing on a Small Budget and New Brand, Product or Service Launch) and were decided by an eminent jury of 12 industry specialists.
The IMA jury was headed by Vinita Bali, former Managing Director, Britannia and the jury members include Ranjan Kapur, Country Manager – India at WPP; Prema Sagar, Principal & Founder at Genesis Burson-Marsteller; Thomas Puliyel, President at IMRB International, Mumbai; Vijay Subramaniam, Managing Director – India & South East Asia, Bacardi India; Kamal Bali, Managing Director, Volvo India; Dr. Amarnath Ananthanarayanan, Managing Director & CEO, Bharti AXA General Insurance; Amit Burman, Vice Chairman, Dabur; Geetu Verma, Executive Director – Foods & Refreshments, HUL; Harit Nagpal, CEO, Tatasky; Sangeeta Pendurkar, Managing Director, Kellogg and Saugata Gupta, Managing Director & CEO, Marico.
IMA 2014 also honoured R C Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki India Limited with Lifetime Achievement Award and Mr. Sashi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular Ltd with Marketer of The Year Award. The event also witnessed the announcement of India’s Top 10 CMOs 2014. E4M looked only at consumer brands for the purpose of this research and the eligibility criteria were that the CMO had been with the company in the CMO position for more than a year.
Announcing the winning campaigns, Annurag Batra, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief, exchange4media Group, said, “Indian Marketing Awards is our biggest and most prestigious competition, aimed at advancing the marketing profession and identifying the emerging trends in marketing. The awards have been presented to organizations, individuals and teams who have achieved extraordinary success from innovative and effective marketing practices, having regard to the particular circumstances of different industries and diversity of marketing programs”.
“The lines between advertising, native advertising, digital marketing, public relations, are blurring. For companies, it’s about making sure that the messaging is communicated rightly, no matter who does it. Agencies across the communication spectrum have to remain agile and focused on client solutions,” says Prema Sagar, Principal & Founder, Genesis Burson-Marsteller.
“I would like to thank the jury for giving me this award and I accept this award on behalf of all who are behind the success of Maruti. Success to an individual which really matters when the success is related to the growth of the organization. The better way of doing things is to work for the growth of the institution or organization without worrying about yourself and if you do that the organization grows,” said R C Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki India Limited.
Brands
Flipkart completes reverse flip to India ahead of IPO
Walmart-owned e-commerce giant shifts domicile from Singapore to Bengaluru
MUMBAI: Flipkart has completed its restructuring to move its parent company from Singapore back to India, marking a key milestone as the Walmart-owned marketplace prepares for a potential initial public offering on Indian stock exchanges, ET reported, citing people aware of the matter.
The move, often referred to as a “reverse flip”, relocates the company’s legal home to India and aligns its corporate structure more closely with its largest market. It also clears an important regulatory step for Flipkart as it explores listing plans.
As part of the restructuring, several Singapore-based entities have been merged into Flipkart Internet Private Limited, which will now serve as the main holding company for the entire group.
The consolidation brings a number of major businesses directly under the Indian parent company. These include fashion platform Myntra, logistics arm Ekart, travel booking platform Cleartrip, healthcare marketplace Flipkart Health, and fintech venture Super.money.
Under the new structure, global investors including Walmart, Microsoft, SoftBank, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board will hold their stakes directly in the Indian entity rather than through an overseas holding company.
The redomiciliation required approval from the Indian government because Chinese technology company Tencent owns around a 5 to 6 per cent stake in Flipkart. Under Press Note 3, investments from countries sharing a land border with India require prior government clearance.
Flipkart had already secured approval from the National Company Law Tribunal in December. With the latest clearance from the central government, the company has now obtained all the regulatory approvals needed to complete the relocation, ET reported earlier.
Flipkart had originally shifted its holding structure to Singapore in 2011 to tap global capital more easily. However, as India’s capital markets have matured, several start-ups have begun returning their domiciles to the country ahead of public listings. Companies such as Razorpay, Groww, and Meesho have taken similar steps.
The company is now expected to move ahead with its IPO preparations and has begun early discussions with merchant bankers. According to people familiar with the matter, Flipkart could file its draft prospectus later this year, setting the stage for what may become one of the most closely watched listings in India’s e-commerce sector.
Flipkart has been majority-owned by Walmart since 2018, when the US retail giant acquired a 77 per cent stake in the company for $16 billion in one of the largest e-commerce deals globally.
