MAM
Türkiye keeps Confiance as India PR partner for fifth term
GURUGRAM: Türkiye is doubling down on India. Confiance Communications has been reappointed as the country’s India PR partner for a fifth consecutive term, extending a relationship that tourism officials credit with lifting Türkiye’s profile among Indian travellers.
Announced from Gurugram on 3 February 2026, the renewal keeps Confiance at the helm of Türkiye’s India communications push, a mandate it has held since 2022. Over that period, the firm has worked to position Türkiye as both a cinematic backdrop and an aspirational holiday spot, while cultivating trade and media pipelines beyond classic PR.
Confiance has run a 360-degree communications strategy spanning films, OTT platforms, social media, press outreach, trade shows, cultural showcases and on-ground activations. A notable plank has been collaborations with Bollywood production houses, including Yash Raj Films, using film and streaming content to weave Türkiye into popular culture and travel wish-lists.
The agency has also leaned on celebrity and influencer partnerships to showcase experiential travel, while building media visibility through press relationships, exclusive familiarisation trips and targeted engagements. The aim: keep Türkiye high in India’s outbound tourism conversation.
Trade has been another front. Confiance has used its network among travel agents and planners to promote Türkiye across destination weddings, MICE, luxury and experiential segments. Partnerships with Indian enterprises, wedding planners and industry leaders have targeted corporates and high-net-worth travellers. Representation at awards and industry forums has helped polish Türkiye’s premium credentials.
Campaigns have ranged from tie-ups with travel bodies such as TAAI and OTOAI to experiential events celebrating Turkish heritage, food and culture. Six-city roadshows across metros in 2024 and 2025, Turkish food festivals, coffee days, conventions for agents and journalists, and other immersive activations have sought to convert curiosity into bookings. Indian arrivals to Türkiye have risen substantially since 2022, with consistent year-on-year growth, according to the partners.
Bushra Ismail, founder and chief strategist at Confiance Communications, cast the mandate as cultural as well as commercial.
“Representing Türkiye Tourism in India has been an incredibly dynamic and gratifying journey—one that goes beyond promotion to presenting deep-rooted cultural identity and fostering industry collaborations. Over the years, we have deployed 360-degree strategic initiatives to integrate Türkiye into India’s mainstream tourism and entertainment landscapes, forging relationships that have transformed the way Indian travellers perceive the country. With this renewed mandate, we aim to deepen Türkiye’s resonance with Indian travellers and unlock new dimensions of cultural exchange.”
Türkiye tourism authorities credited the agency’s local insight.
“Confiance Communications has played an integral role in highlighting Türkiye’s narrative in India, seamlessly translating our country’s cultural depth and modern appeal into powerful, market-driven storytelling. Their ability to understand and tap into the evolving aspirations of Indian travellers, combined with their strategic engagement across verticals, has contributed significantly to positioning Türkiye as a leading choice for high-value tourism. The continued success of this partnership underscores the impact of their efforts.”
Next on the agenda: deeper ties with luxury travel consortiums, high-profile film and digital campaigns, and programmes for medical and wellness tourism—segments where Indian demand is rising.
Founded by Bushra Ismail, Confiance has built a name in startup and venture-capital PR, working with close to 100 organisations in India and abroad. Its client list spans The Quorum Club, Positive Moves, Beyond Appliances, Hoi, JetSetGo, CashKaro, Leo Capital, Nutrabay, Salad Days, Transition VC, Bureau ID, PlanetSpark, ProcMart and Khyaal. It is also pitching itself as a partner to listed firms, including ProcMart of the IndiaMART group, TIL Limited and Just Herbs, now owned by Marico.
For Türkiye, straddling Asia and Europe across the Bosporus, tourism is both soft power and hard currency. For Confiance, the renewed brief is validation. And for Indian travellers, the message is clear: from film sets to food trails, Türkiye wants a bigger share of their passports—and their wallets.
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
