Interpublic Group (IPG), one of the largest advertising and marketing services companies in the world, believes India is a key growth market. A strong indication of the growing importance of the market came from the fact that the IPG Board of directors are here in India now, on a visit to get a sense of the Indian operations and future growth opportunities.

Michael I Roth, Chairman and CEO of IPG, Business Line : “India has always been important and becoming even more important and our performance this year in India has been very good.”

Asked about the slower growth of emerging markets like India in recent times, he said: “We have a strong history and client relationships that go back many years in India. We don’t make business decisions based on short-term movements. The year 2013 was a good year for us in terms of our India offering. Asia Pacific represents 12 per cent of our revenue and India is an important part of this region. We view it as a key growth market.”

He added there are expectations that with the coming election there will be some stability and the economy will return to a more stabilised growth environment.

“There are macro factors that come into play and stability is the key… We have significant investment in India and we would like to see that happen.”

Roth said growth in India in 2013 was about 12 per cent of which 6 per cent came from organic growth and the rest from acquisitions.

While the company is targeting 3-4 per cent organic revenue growth this year globally, it expects Indian operations to grow 5-6 per cent, depending on the stability of the new Government.

Asked if the company is looking at acquisitions in India, he said: “We will keep looking at transactions that fill a void in a discipline that we don’t have. If not, we will continue to focus on growing organically.”

Last year, IPG Mediabrands, the media holding company of IPG, closed the acquisition of Mumbai-based independent full service digital agency Interactive Avenues. Also, it bought out its Indian partner in the public relations joint venture, as Weber Shandwick fully acquired the ownership of Corporate Voice Weber Shandwick.

Talking about the key changes happening in India since his last visit, Roth said the youth movement and the demand for change in India is consistent with its business as this is the marketplace that the company has to reach out for its clients.

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