At a press briefing in New Delhi yesterday, Sir Martin Sorrell announced that CVL Srinivas (Srini) would be the Country Manager for WPP India. He also congratulated Mr Srinivas on being named the ‘Influencer of the Year’ by Exchange4Media, the award for which will be conferred on him on October 27, 2017 in Mumbai. 
 
Talking about ‘Brand India’, he said, ‘Brand India’ is in good shape. Under Prime Minister Modi, it’s gotten considerably stronger. Regarding the disruptions caused by GST and Demonetization, he said, “when you have legislative change, which brings about social change you are going to have disruption. Its short-term pain for long-term gain. There will be short term dislocations when a government tries to bring about change”.
 
The foreign perception –whether it’s in the US, UK or beyond-, the people’s view of India, is one of progressive change and a country that’s on the move. He stated that in the coming 20 years, the role and importance of India will increase.  If one takes into account the statistics, GDP, average income levels, reduction in poverty over past 30 years, etc., he believes India has made considerable, if not fantastic progress and that India is evolving into an important and significant force. 
 
He said, from a British perspective, India has a greater importance now. Further, if Brexit happens, India’s trade relationships with UK should be enhanced. He added that he remains very bullish on India, not just in the short-term but in the long term as well. Regarding the performance of WPP in India, he said that when he was here last, some two years ago, he was hoping that they would break-through the $ 600 million revenue mark, which they did. 
 
He said this year they went through the $ 600 million mark; which is a remarkable achievement for all their businesses here. “If I look at the brands here, they are all doing pretty well. I have been coming to India since the mid-80s (1987), and the quality of people that we have here is outstanding. We have about 15,000 people here and I wish that in every country that we operate… that the talent would be of the same quality.”