Astus Group- a global media trading company, has announced the official launch of its independent office in India on Tuesday which will be spearheaded by Sparsh Ganguli, who joins as India Head.

Originally founded in London in 2003, alongside the Indian office Astus has a presence in 20 countries with over 300 clients and trades over $400 million annually. The media trading company works with advertisers to enhance their media budget using their products or services. Astus works across categories in full collaboration with clients’ agencies to ensure they get the media they want.

The global media trading company entered the market back in 2010 when the company had a joint venture with GroupM APAC. In India, the JV company was headed by Ganguli.

Astus' Joint Chairman and co-founder Frances Dickens told exchange4media that the partnership with GroupM was great. Astus has been wholly owned in the UK, Europe, and the Middle East for 20 years, but in 2010, we formed a joint venture with GroupM across APAC." We grew tremendously during that time, and we believed now was the moment to have the APAC markets entirely owned by London, because we were restricted to the WPP agencies, which was a fantastic place to begin. But now we need to be able to work with clients outside of those agencies since the market has grown significantly. We're excited to go from strength to strength."

According to Paul Jackson, Joint-Chairman and Co-Founder of Astus Group, the JV gave Astus the confidence to come into the Indian market independently. He shared that while working with GroupM in the India market, they learned that there's a big appetite for a trading company.

“Over those few years during that JV, it really solidified in our minds that there's a massive opportunity in India. We want India to be our third largest market within quite a short time frame and we think that's deliverable as well. There's a huge opportunity within India. The country is booming right now and will be one of the third-largest economies in the world within the next few years. So we really want to be part of that. One of the biggest barriers to entry is getting the right staff and we believe that in Sparsh we found exactly the right person to lead Astus India.”

Astus also works with hundreds of media owners across all media channels, working in association with them to offset their hard cash costs and bring them business which complements their existing channels. Astus does this by enabling media owners to trade their soft currency or media space for goods and services they need.

Sparsh Ganguli, India Head, Astus Media shared that this business model is unique. Nobody in India has ever really come up with this kind of business model. He mentioned initially, it took a little bit of time to understand the business.

Speaking about the responses that he received during the JV with GroupM he shared that the clients’ reactions were very positive towards the Astus business model across the sector. The agency worked with brands across sectors including FMCG and automobiles. “However, COVID happened and had an impact on the business. Despite this, it was a positive experience working with GroupM, and that experience gave me the confidence to head Astus in India.” Ganguli also shared that the company is currently in talks with multiple clients across categories.

Astus works across FMCG, Airlines, Automotive, Telecoms, Tourism, Food & Beverage, Hotels, Events/ Hospitality, Electronic Goods, Entertainment, Education and Charities.

Speaking on the investment in the Indian market, the founding members shared that India is an important market for Astus. “It's an enormous opportunity and we will have significant funds available to make investment estimates. A lot of our business is about making investments either directly in media or directly in products to make it happen.” The company plans to invest multi-million dollars in India.

Speaking on the expectations from the market, Jackson said, “We want turnover to be about three million US dollars over the next financial 12 months. We found that because of our repeat business in the UK, we were able to double year after year for the first five-six years. So ideally, we would like to be able to replicate that model. Obviously, we'll have to hire a few more people around as fast to make that happen.”