Vikram Sakhuja elected MRUC Vice-chairman; Shailesh Gupta re-elected as Chairman

New Delhi: The Board of Directors of the Media Research Users Council of India on Thursday elected Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO, Madison Media and OOH, as Vice-Chairman. 

Sakhuja has replaced Shashank Srivastava of Maruti, who was transferred from the position of Head Marketing & Sales to Member Executive Committee earlier this year.

At the board meeting held after the annual general meeting (AGM), Shailesh Gupta, Wholetime Director, Jagran Prakashan, was re-elected chairman.

New members have also been appointed to the Board of Governors, viz:

1.       Jayant Mammen Mathew, Director, MM TV Ltd.

2.       Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Director (Marketing & Sales), Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.

3.       Pratap Govind Pawar, Chairman, Sakal Media Pvt. Ltd.

4.       Tejas Apte, Head of DMC and Media- South Asia, Hindustan Unilever Ltd.

5.       Vikram Sakhuja, Partner, Group CEO- Media & OOH, Madison Communications Pvt. Ltd.

Gupta stated, "The past four years have presented us with unique challenges, but with perseverance and collaboration, we are now ready to resume the IRS Study. The commitment of our Technical Committee and Board members has ensured that we can move forward with a cost-effective solution, without compromising on the quality of the study. We deeply appreciate the unwavering support from our members during these trying times, and we are confident that together, we will soon realize our shared vision."

Sakhuja stated, “It is a privilege and an honour to be elected as Vice Chairman of MRUC. I am grateful to the MRUC Board for this opportunity. We have a wonderful MRUC Secretariat and a committed and talented Technical Committee. We are committed to bringing back IRS as the Country’s definitive and most credible establishment survey in the coming months.”

Sakhuja has held key positions on numerous industry boards and committees, including ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India), ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulation), RSCI (Readership Studies Council of India), BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council), and FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry), along with roles in Ad Club and IBF (Indian Broadcasting Foundation).

An engineer from IIT Delhi and an MBA graduate from IIM Calcutta, Sakhuja began his career at Procter & Gamble in 1988, where he spent eight years in Marketing Research and Media. He then moved to Coca-Cola, where he managed the brand's marketing portfolio over a five-year stint.

After a year with Star TV Network (NewsCorp) as EVP of Marketing, where he established their marketing department, Vikram Sakhuja joined WPP in 2002. He served as Managing Director of Mindshare South Asia and later became CEO of GroupM South Asia, a role he held for six years. Following this, he took on the position of Worldwide CEO for Maxus for two years. Since October 2015, Sakhuja has been associated with Madison World, continuing his extensive journey in the media and marketing industry.

Gupta has more than 35 years of experience in the media industry. He has held various key positions in the industry, including being the President of the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) and Chairman of the Council of Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC). He is also the Director of Music Broadcast Limited, Rave Real Estate Private Limited, MMI Online Limited and Midday Infomedia Limited.