MRUCI re-elects Vikram Sakhuja and Dhruba Mukherjee as chairman and vice chairman

MUMBAI: The old guard stays, fresh blood arrives and a long-vacant chair is finally filled. The Media Research Users Council India (MRUCI) has re-elected Vikram Sakhuja, partner and director at Madison World, as its chairman and Dhruba Mukherjee, chief executive of ABP Pvt. Ltd., as vice chairman, just as the industry body gears up to revive the Indian Readership Survey (IRS).

The leadership duo was unanimously re-elected at an MRUCI board meeting held shortly after the organisation’s 32nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 28th September at Hotel Sahara Star. Unanimity is no small thing in an industry where publishers, agencies and advertisers rarely agree on how to count an audience. It signals continuity at the very moment continuity is most needed.

The council has also appointed four new members to its board of governors:

• Samudra Bhattacharya, chief executive, print and radio, HT Media Ltd.
• Janhavi Abhijit Pawar, director, Sakal Media Pvt. Ltd.
• Kartik Sharma, chief executive, Omnicom Media, India
• Navin Khemka, president, client solutions, WPP Media South Asia

The mix is telling. Publishers, radio, agencies and a global network all sit at one table, which is exactly the coalition a credible measurement currency requires.

The changes come as MRUCI prepares for the revival of the IRS, which has been a key focus for the industry body. Speaking about the revival, Sakhuja said the new IRS comes at a critical time for the Indian media industry and would provide a contemporary measurement framework reflecting changes in media consumption. He said the new survey would go beyond traditional reach metrics and include factors such as trust, attention and digital consumption. According to Sakhuja, the aim is to create a common measurement currency that can support more informed deployment of media budgets across different mediums.

That ambition deserves a closer look. Reach alone has long been a blunt instrument. By adding trust, attention and digital consumption, the IRS promises to tell planners not just how many people saw a message, but how much it mattered to them. A common currency across mediums would also let advertisers compare like with like, which is the foundation of sound budgeting.

Mukherjee, in his vote of thanks, said the revival of the IRS was a collective industry effort involving the MRUCI board, technical committee and members. He said the industry’s focus was on developing a credible, contemporary and cross-media measurement currency, and thanked stakeholders involved in the process. The revival has been closely watched by the media, advertising and publishing industries, as measurement remains central to media planning, audience assessment and advertising decisions.

The re-elected leaders bring deep experience. Sakhuja has held senior roles across the media and marketing industry, including global chief executive of Maxus Worldwide, chief executive of GroupM South Asia and chief executive of Mindshare South Asia. He has also held marketing, media and market research roles at companies including Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola and Star TV. He has served on industry bodies and committees including ASCI, ABC, RSCI, BARC, FICCI, ASSOCHAM and AAAI, and is currently chairman of BARC’s technical committee and a board member of ABC.

Mukherjee joined ABP in 1997 as a management trainee and has held roles across brand management, audience development, advertising sales and production before becoming chief executive. It is a career built from the ground up, which suits a body that must balance the interests of every part of the media chain.

Additionally, MRUCI has announced Kaacon Sethi as its new chief executive, effective 8th October 2026. The appointment fills a leadership position that has been vacant for close to six years and comes at a critical juncture, with the imminent revival of the IRS. Sethi brings over 35 years of leadership experience across India’s media, entertainment, sports, content and marketing ecosystem. She began her career in media planning and buying with leading agencies before joining Sony Entertainment Television, where she went on to head marketing and sales for SET and concurrently launched Sony MAX as its business head with profit and loss responsibility.

Put together, a stable board, fresh governors and a seasoned chief executive give MRUCI the right team at the right time. If the IRS delivers on its promise, Indian media may finally get the measurement currency it has waited for.