Harindra Singh takes full control of Percept group

Shailendra Singh to continue as passive shareholder in Percept

Harindra Singh, chairman and managing director of the advertising and marketing communications group Percept, has taken full control of the agency and will manage all its day-to-day affairs.

Harindra and his younger brother Shailendra Singh, joint managing director at Percept, executed a family settlement by which the latter will step down from his position but will remain a passive shareholder in the group.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Harindra said he would “exclusively” manage the operations of the group. “While Shailendra will continue as a passive shareholder in Percept, he will not be involved in the management of the group,” the statement said.

It was, however, unclear what was Shailendra’s future plan, and what his precise shareholding in the group was. He could not be immediately reached for comment.

His elder brother, when contacted, said the family settlement was executed with the assistance of family elders and members and that he had nothing more to add to this.

The settlement will bring an end to an over three-decade-long partnership between the two brothers, which saw them move beyond conventional advertising into areas such as live events, film production and celebrity and sports management long before it became fashionable for advertising and marketing communication groups to do so in India.

In recent years, the Percept group’s live events wing became popular with properties such as Sunburn, which is now among the world’s biggest music festivals and also one that attracts significant brand interest from those who target the youth.

Held in Goa since 2007, Sunburn last year moved to Pune in a bid to widen its appeal.

Some other properties promoted by the group include Bollyboom, a Bollywood dance music festival, and Windsong for lovers of alternative music.

The group also has a tie-up with Japan’s oldest ad agency, Hakuhodo, in India and has other units such as Percept Media and Percept Gulf within it.

As things stand now, the group has 700 people across 42 offices in India and the West Asia. Its agency billings are pegged at Rs 1,726 crore with advertising, marketing and media services bunched under the umbrella of Percept One.

Live events and film production, on the other hand, are bunched under the umbrella of content and intellectual properties.