MAM
India’s strong showing in Publicis Groupe’s global growth in Q1
MUMBAI: India continues to be a driving force for France-based global media conglomerate the Publicis Groupe in 2013. The group‘s business in the country grew at 10.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2013. It was the region to record the second highest growth after China that grew at 15.2 per cent.
Publicis Groupe‘s consolidated revenue for the first quarter of 2013 was Euro 1,563 million, up 7.6 per cent from Euro 1,452 million for the same period in 2012. The group registered overall organic growth of 1.3 per cent for the first quarter (8.5 per cent organic growth in digital and -2.3 per cent in analogue/non-digital business).
The growth by geographies was led by the BRIC+MISSAT (Brazil, Russia, India and China + Mexico, Indonesia, Singapore, South Africa and Turkey) regions at 14.2 per cent. The two combined territories grew from revenue collection of Euros 176 million in Q1 2012 to Euros 201 million in the first quarter of 2013. Russia grew at a rate of 5.7 per cent.
While North America contributed to nearly 50 per cent of the revenue, majority regions in Europe saw significant negative organic growth. Publicis‘ revenues in North America grew from Euros 724 million in Q1 2012 to Euros 776 million in Q1 2013, an increase of seven per cent. The region saw organic growth of 4.4 per cent.
Europe (excluding Turkey and Russia) registered organic de-growth of 6.5 per cent. It saw advertising investments decline sharply, mainly in the non-digital segment (analogue). The vast majority of countries in this region recorded negative growth, including Germany (-4.8 per cent), the UK (-6.1 per cent), France (-11.3 per cent), Spain (-13.1 per cent) and Italy (-13.7 per cent) while Central Europe grew by 3.8 per cent.
The group has maintained its thrust on India with its only acquisition in the quarter coming in the form of full service digital marketing and consulting agency Convonix. It is expected to align with Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) in India to provide search engine optimization, paid search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing and online reputation management to an extensive roster of clients.
Major account wins for Publicis Groupe in the country in this period included HP (DigitasLBi), Eureka Forbes (DigitasLBi) and Subway India (Publicis Worldwide).
Publicis has also recently made it known that it plans to make more acquisitions in the country. A technology services firm is said to be the next target on the group‘s mind which will be merged with its digital entity Razorfish on acquisition. Details of the agreement are expected over the next month.
Other major investment for the group in Q1 2013 was the completion of the share purchases of digital agency LBi International and the buyback of shares (approx. 3.9 million for a total price of 181 million euro) from Japanese media giant Dentsu.
The Groupe expects its revenue stream to grow slowly in the first half-year, then gathering pace in the second half-year, with annual growth for 2013 exceeding the market and its own performance in 2012. The Groupe‘s internal objective is between 3.2 per cent and 3.6 per cent.
Publicis chairman and CEO Maurice Levy said, “As I predicted, 2013 is turning out to be a difficult and contrasted vintage, with on the one hand the United States consolidating its growth and on the other hand Europe suffering. Our first quarter ended satisfactorily, and while 1.3 per centorganic growth may seem modest, it is above our internal objectives and compares with the strong growth recorded in the first quarter of 2012. This is particularly true for Europe with a 10 points gap between 2012 first quarter (+3.6 per cent increase) and 2013 (6.5 per cent decrease). The Groupe‘s transformation continues apace: digital activities now represent 37 per cent of total revenue, and strongly stands as our first activity. When combined with revenue from the so-called “emerging” markets, our business in these high-growth segments generates close to 60 per cent of our total revenue, in keeping with our five-year goal of 75 per cent from these segments. North America accounted for 50 per cent of our revenue in the first quarter of 2013. This rebalancing is very encouraging in order to meet the challenges of 2013 and 2014. They bear fruit as shown by our performance in net new business wins surpassing the high level of $ 2 billion. The pipeline remains solid and comforts us in the Groupe‘s ability to reach its objectives for 2013, namely to improve its margin and to outperform the market and our own 2012 in terms of organic growth.”
Buying family medical insurance online in India has become a common option for individuals who want to secure health coverage for multiple family members under a single policy. However, many buyers are unsure about the exact steps involved in selecting and purchasing the right plan online.
In this guide, you will know the step-by-step process of buying family medical insurance online in India, along with the key factors to review before purchasing a suitable policy.
Step 1: Assess Your Family’s Healthcare Needs
Before buying online health insurance, check the healthcare needs of all family members. Check age, existing illnesses, regular medicines, and the likely need for hospital care later. This helps in selecting a suitable sum insured, policy type, and level of cover. It also reduces the chance of buying a plan that appears suitable but does not meet actual medical needs.
Step 2: Visit the Insurance Company’s Official Website
After understanding the family’s needs, visit the insurer’s official website and read the plan details carefully. Use the official platform to review eligibility, policy wording, waiting periods, cover details, exclusions, and renewal terms.
This step gives a clearer understanding of how the policy works before payment is made. It also helps avoid confusion caused by incomplete summaries on other pages.
Step 3: Compare Available Family Health Insurance Plans
A family medical insurance policy should be compared on factors beyond the premium. Review the sum insured, hospital network, room rent limits, pre- and post-hospitalisation cover, daycare treatment coverage, and waiting periods. It is also important to check treatment sub-limits and specific policy conditions.
Careful comparison helps determine whether a plan provides balanced coverage and whether its terms are suitable for the healthcare needs of the entire family.
Step 4: Choose the Right Policy and Start the Online Purchase
Once the options have been compared, select the policy that best fits the family’s medical needs and budget. Before starting the application, review the covered members, policy term, benefits, and main conditions again. This is an important stage because errors here can lead to the wrong cover amount, an unsuitable variant, or missing details that create problems during policy use.
Step 5: Calculate the Premium Using an Online Calculator
Use the online premium calculator before making the final choice. Enter the correct details, including age, city, number of insured members, and selected cover amount. The result helps in understanding the expected premium and whether the policy fits the annual budget. This step is useful because it allows cost and coverage to be reviewed together, instead of choosing a plan only because the premium looks lower.
Step 6: Fill in Personal and Medical Details
When filling in the proposal form, provide accurate details for each insured member. This includes name, date of birth, contact details, medical history, ongoing treatment, and previous insurance information if required.
Every answer should be complete and truthful. Incorrect or missing details can create difficulty later. Before you submit the form, read every section again and correct any mistakes.
Step 7: Make Payment Through the Secure Payment Gateway
After checking the form, go to the payment page and complete the transaction through the secure payment gateway. Review the premium, policy term, and entered details once more before confirming payment.
After the transaction is completed, save the receipt, reference number, or confirmation message carefully. Keeping this record is useful if you need to track the purchase or follow up on policy issuance later.
Step 8: Download and Keep Your Policy Document Safely
Once the policy is issued, download the policy document, schedule, and any related papers without delay. Read them carefully to confirm member names, policy period, sum insured, and major terms. Save a digital copy in a secure folder and keep a printed copy if needed. Proper record keeping makes future renewals, document checks, and policy servicing easier and more organised when information is required quickly.
Conclusion
Buying health cover online becomes easier when you handle each step with attention. From checking your family’s needs to reading the final document, every stage helps you make an informed choice. A careful approach can reduce mistakes, improve your understanding of policy terms, and help you choose coverage that matches your household’s medical needs, financial capacity, and long-term healthcare planning in a reliable way for your family over the long term.
