MAM
TI Cycles enters into licensing tie-up with Nick
NEW DELHI: Giridhari Mohanty has succeeded Frank Noronha as DAVP director-general.
Noronha has moved to the Press Information Bureau as Director General. Both officers are from the 1982 batch of the Indian Information Service.
Mohanty, who takes charge of the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP), was in All India Radio news as director general, a post he held since July 2010. Since September 2011, Mohanty was also a member of the Advisory Group on Media and Human Rights established by the National Human Rights Commission.
Coming a year before the General Elections, the DAVP post becomes significant as the Government will use all the resources at its command to send out advertisements to news media about the government’s achievements, particularly in the programmes related to the rural areas. Mohanty’s experience in AIR will come in useful in this regard.
DAVP currently sends out ads worth more than Rs 7.50 billion every year. Some of the autonomous bodies also route their advertisements through DAVP.
Noronha, who was appointed Director General of DAVP in 2009, told indiantelevision.com that the transfer was normal since he had completed four years in DAVP.
MUMBAI: Mar-tech network Wondrlab Network is in talks to acquire advertising major Madison World, according to media reports, in a move that could reshape India’s agency landscape.
In a statement shared with Social Samosa, Wondrlab Network founder and CEO Saurabh Varma, confirmed that the group is actively evaluating acquisition opportunities but declined to confirm any specific transaction.
“We have consistently stated that Wondrlab is building for scale, and acquisitions remain an important part of that strategy. We are in discussions with multiple companies across capabilities that strengthen our platform-first, full-funnel marketing and technology offering. Any development will be communicated at the appropriate time,” Varma said.
Wondrlab has pursued acquisitions as part of an ambitious plan to buy 26 agencies across three phases. In 2025, it completed its seventh acquisition, underscoring its appetite for inorganic growth.
According to reports, Madison founder Sam Balsara is seeking around Rs 1,000 crore for the agency. If the Wondrlab deal goes through, it would rank as the largest acquisition of an Indian agency by another Indian agency.
Wondrlab was launched in November 2020 by Saurabh Varma, Vandana Varma, and Rakesh Hinduja. Its first acquisition followed swiftly with the December 2020 purchase of Amit Akali’s creative shop, What’s Your Problem.
Since then, the group has steadily expanded its footprint. It acquired influencer marketing firm Opportune and performance marketing agency Neon in 2022. In 2023, it bought Salesforce consultancy and data analytics firm Cymetrix, alongside Poland-based WebTalk, marking its entry into Europe. It later added influencer marketing agency OPA and, last year, took a majority stake in BigStep Technologies, a generative AI and cloud-native software firm.
Madison, meanwhile, has long been a target for global advertising groups. Over the years, it has drawn interest from WPP, Publicis Groupe and Dentsu. In May 2025, Havas was reported to be the frontrunner, with an offer of about Rs 700 crore for a majority stake.
Earlier talks with WPP in 2015, when Madison was valued at roughly Rs 500 crore, collapsed over valuation and equity differences. Discussions with Publicis and Dentsu also failed to yield a deal.
