During the 27th annual general meeting of the Media Research Users Council India (MRUCI), board members elected Shashi Sinha, CEO - India, IPG Mediabrands as chairman. Shailesh Gupta, director, Jagran Prakashan, was elected as vice chairman.    

Sinha takes over from Pratap Pawar, chairman, Sakal Media Group, who served as MRUCI’s chairman for two consecutive terms.  

Pawar said, “We faced some challenging times due to the global pandemic, but I am glad we are soon returning to normalcy. With the change in name from Media Research Users Council (MRUC) to Media Research Users Council India (MRUCI), and the modification of IRS questionnaire, we will not only further boost our national stature and representation, but also successfully meet the fast evolving needs and expectations of our stakeholders. I thank all our board members and stakeholders for all their support and I give my best wishes to Mr Shashi Sinha and all the new board members.”  

Sinha said, “I thank Mr Pawar for his selfless leadership and valuable guidance especially in these unprecedented times. MRUCI has long played a very crucial role in providing the industry with a reliable, robust and realistic data, and now more than ever, the industry looks toward us to meet their expectations in maintaining and propagating the highest possible standards of integrity, fairness and reliability in media research. As our country slowly resumes to normalcy, our priority will be to begin the IRS fieldwork at the soonest, in consideration with the ground realities.”  

Three new members have also been appointed to the board of governors:

• Pratap Pawar, chairman, Sakal Media Group
• Dhruba Mukherjee, CEO, ABP
• Jayant Mammen Mathew, executive editor and director, MM Publications