Shailesh Gupta appointed MRUCI chairman, Shashank Srivastava to be vice-chairman

Shailesh Gupta, wholetime director, Jagran Prakashan Ltd

Shailesh Gupta, wholetime director, Jagran Prakashan Ltd, and Shashank Srivastava, senior executive director, sales & marketing, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, were unanimously elected as the chairman and vice-chairman of Media Research Users Council India (MRUCI), respectively, at the organisation's 29th annual general meeting (AGM) on Tuesday.

The announcement was made at MRUCI's board meeting, which was held shortly after the AGM. Gupta takes over the mantle from Shashidhar Sinha, CEO, India, Mediabrands, who served as MRUCI's chairman for two consecutive terms - from 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. While handing over the mantle, Sinha stated, "I am happy that the IRS [Indian Readership Survey] is being revived after a gap because of COVID."

Shashank Srivastava, senior executive director, sales & marketing, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd

Gupta, in his vote of thanks, said, "I'd like to thank Shashi Sinha for leading MRUCI and taking several strides forward in reviving the IRS. It will be my endeavour to help create a robust third-party research that helps all constituents and collectively takes the industry forward." The two new members have also been appointed to the Board of Governors, which comprises Rajeev Beotra, executive director, HT Media Ltd; and Anupriya Acharya, CEO, South Asia, Publicis Groupe.

Over the past 25 years, Gupta, one of the most respected names in the Indian media industry, has provided a new dimension to Jagran's marketing strategy and has been at the heart of driving transformational change at the Jagran group. He also holds positions as director, Music Broadcast Limited, and director, Midday Infomedia Ltd.

Gupta is associated with several industry bodies in media. He was president of the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) in 2019-20. He was elected as the youngest member of the Managing Committee of the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) for the year 2004-05 and served as chairman of the ABC in 2012-13

Gupta has also served as vice-chairman of Media Research Users Council and has been nominated by the INS to the board of the World Association of Newspapers, Paris. He has also been conferred with the Most Talented CMO of India by the World Marketing Congress in 2014, awarded the Youngest Entrepreneur of the Year by the Rotary Club, India, and was the recipient of the Excellence Award for Communication and Mass Entertainment, which was bestowed by Merchants' Chamber of UP.

Srivastava is widely recognised as one of the most influential marketers in India. In a career spanning more than three decades at Maruti Suzuki, he has worked in both domestic and international marketing, and has witnessed the evolution of the Indian automotive industry from its nascent days to today's hyper-competitive phase. An alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, his digital transformation initiatives include making MSIL the first automotive OEM globally to take vehicle bookings on Metaverse.

Srivastava is a member of various industry bodies such as MRUCI, ABC, CII National Committee on Marketing, Advertising Standard Council of India, Indian Society of Advertisers, Broadcast Audience Research Council and has been widely recognized with a slew of awards such as the Automotive Leader of the Year, Business Leader and CMO of the Year, CMO Award for Disruptive Marketing Excellence, among others.

Founded in 1994, MRUCI was formed with the sole purpose of organising accurate, timely and efficient media research in the country, across all forms of media. As the name suggests, the MRUCI exists solely to serve the interests of its members, as far as media research is concerned.