MAM
PR Professionals clinch ICC gig, get inked into a century-old power circle
MUMBAI: It’s not every day that a PR firm bags a client older than independent India. But PR Professionals (PRP), the Gurugram-based communications powerhouse, just pulled off a press-worthy coup by being appointed as the official PR partner for the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) — a 100-year-old juggernaut of Indian industry headquartered in Kolkata. Talk about prestige meets press kits.
The announcement came on 7 April 2025, and let’s just say, the champagne corks in Gurugram likely flew higher than ICC’s GDP targets. With this mandate, PRP enters the rarefied boardrooms of economic policy influencers, industrial tycoons and policymakers — and yes, probably a lot of spreadsheets too.
“We are honored to partner with the Indian Chamber of Commerce, a 100-year-old institution that has significantly contributed to India’s economic landscape…” said PR Professionals founder & MD Sarvesh Tiwari in a statement that managed to be both humble and headline-ready.
Founded in 1925, ICC isn’t just another acronym in a crowded sea of business forums. It’s the OG of Indian commerce bodies — the one that’s been around since pre-partition, pre-GDP and certainly pre-Whatsapp. Under the presidency of Abhyuday Jindal (yes, of Jindal Stainless Ltd fame), ICC has kept its relevance sharper than a budget analyst’s pencil.
With senior office bearers like Brij Bhushan Agarwal of Shyam Metalics and Parth Neotia of Ambuja Neotia Group, this is a chamber with more corporate weight than a B-school case study collection. And it’s not just about boardroom banter — ICC pumps out macroeconomic studies, state investment climate reports, and policy recommendations that find their way into budget files and bureaucratic briefs.
In 2024, ICC celebrated its centenary at Kolkata’s Town Hall with the likes of Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy gracing the dais — because if you’re going to age gracefully, you might as well throw a bash with billionaires.
As for PR Professionals, this isn’t their first rodeo. Since its launch in 2011, the firm has grown from a modest agency into a 12-office Indian PR titan with six international outposts. From infrastructure to aviation, railways to public sector behemoths — they’ve handled it all, often with flair, and always with media mileage.
This partnership with ICC adds another feather to PRP’s already flamboyant cap. It’s a move that underscores their expertise in crafting complex narratives, managing large-scale mandates, and making even government jargon sparkle.
In PR terms, this is the equivalent of bagging a blockbuster film after a string of indie hits.
Strategic messaging? Check.
National economic visibility? Double check.
It’s a marriage of old money and new media — and one that’s bound to make noise in all the right corridors.
Brands
Estée Lauder to shed 10,000 jobs as new boss bets on digital shift
The cosmetics giant raises its profit outlook but stays silent on a possible merger with Spain’s Puig, as job cuts deepen and a three-year sales slump weighs on the turnaround
NEW YORK: Stéphane de La Faverie is not done cutting. Estée Lauder announced on Friday that it plans to eliminate as many as 3,000 additional jobs, taking its total redundancy programme to as many as 10,000 roles, up from a previous target of 7,000 announced a year ago. The company, which owns La Mer, The Ordinary, Tom Ford, and Aveda, employs roughly 57,000 people worldwide. The mathematics of what is now being contemplated is stark.
The fresh round of cuts is expected to generate a further $200 million in savings, bringing the total annual savings from the programme to as much as $1.2 billion before taxes. That money, De La Faverie has made clear, will be ploughed back into the turnaround.
A CEO in a hurry
De La Faverie, who took the helm in January 2025, inherited a company that had endured three consecutive years of annual sales declines. His response has been to move fast and cut deep. A significant portion of the latest redundancies reflects his push to reduce headcount at US department stores, long a cornerstone of Estée Lauder’s distribution model but now a channel in structural decline. In their place, he is accelerating the shift toward faster-growing online platforms, including Amazon.com and TikTok Shop, a pivot that is reshaping not just where Estée Lauder sells but how it thinks about its customers.
The numbers are moving in the right direction
Despite the pain, there are signs the medicine is working. Estée Lauder raised its profit outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, guiding for adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.35 to $2.45, above analyst estimates and a notable step up from the $2.05 to $2.25 range it had guided for in February. Organic net sales growth is expected to come in at 3 per cent, the company said, at the high end of the range it set out in February.
The share price tells a mixed story. After De La Faverie took charge, the stock surged nearly 60 per cent, buoyed by investor optimism that a longtime company insider could finally arrest the decline. But 2026 has been rougher: the shares have fallen 27 per cent this year, weighed down by disappointing February results and the overhang of unresolved merger talks with Spanish beauty giant Puig Brands SA. The company gave no additional details about those discussions on Friday, leaving the market to guess.
Silence on Puig
The proposed tie-up with Puig remains the most consequential unknown hanging over Estée Lauder. A deal with the Barcelona-based group, which owns brands including Carolina Herrera and Rabanne, would reshape the global luxury beauty landscape. But with nothing new to say and a turnaround still very much in progress, De La Faverie is asking investors to trust the process.
Three years of sales declines, 10,000 job cuts, and a merger that may or may not happen. At Estée Lauder, the overhaul has barely started.
