The Board

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Harindra Singh laid the foundation of the country’s largest and one of its kind entertainment, media, communications conglomerate on Jan 2, 1984 when ‘Percept’ came into being as a full service advertising agency. Percept is today recognised as one of the leaders in the entertainment, media and communications domain.

Today, Percept has a team of around 1000 people across 62 offices in India and the Middle East; and has a capitalized billings of about INR 26 billion (FY’11).

Having begun his career in 1980 at Interads, one of the top 10 advertising agencies then, he rose from being a Management Trainee to a Regional Manager. Backed by a Bachelors’ Degree in Science, a Diploma in Hotel Management as well as Advertising & Public Relations, from the University of Mumbai, Harindra today, is regarded as one of the thought leaders in the field of marketing communications.

Harindra Singh is Director on the Board of several Advertising, Media, Entertainment and Hospitality companies and is a key industry spokesperson in the Entertainment, Media and Communications domain. He has been featured as a speaker on various industry forums, conclaves and is a veteran in the EMC industry.

With unparalleled passion, immense energy and enthusiasm, Harindra Singh has been instrumental in making Percept a truly global organisation. He led the Percept partnership with Aegis Group plc, a leading media company globally, with brands like Carat, Posterscope, Isobar, Vizium, amongst others; and with Hakuhodo Inc, the 8th largest advertising agency worldwide and the 2nd largest in Japan.

As the Founder-Promoter of Percept, it was his vision to build an indigenous organisation with global imprints. With network offices across 19 countries worldwide including USA, UK, Japan and the Middle East, Percept is well on its way to being a globally competitive player in the entertainment, media and communications industry. He has played a key role in mapping out the growth strategy of Percept though the M&A route that brought in immense value into the business. He led the Acquisitions of Tiger Sports Marketing, Eventus, Swift, Imageads and the Merger of Bydesign with Imageads to create IBD Brands, a leading creative agency, today.

An astute personality with sharp business acumen, Harindra ensured that Percept has remained ahead of its peers as the pioneers and innovators in the entertainment, media and communications domain and surpasses the cut-throat competition in the EMC Industry. He has also acted in an advisory capacity for various organizations in Business and Company Restructuring Processes and Funding.

What defines Harindra Singh is his unfailing belief in himself, and his firm conviction that life is a matter of choice, not chance. The seeds of owning a company one day were sown long before he actually accomplished it. It has taken years of sheer hard work, admirable entrepreneurial skills, planning and incredible foresight to place Percept on the pedestal it is today.

Singh’s ‘never say die’ spirit emerges from his background and love for sports. His interests lie in Badminton, Tennis and Cricket. Half a century seems a long time, but life starts at 50 for this young suave leader who believes in staying fit by indulging in competitive sports even today.

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An undying spirit, inexhaustible ideas, a fastidious attitude and a great eye for detail are what define the man, Shailendra Singh. His energy is rooted towards conceptualizing, planning and strategizing ways and means to creating innovative content that works. His expertise and contribution over the past two decades to the arena of Advertising, Sports, Talent, Movies and 360-degree communications are unparalleled, and truly make him the fastest innovator and creator in the entertainment, media and communications domain in India.

His passion for innovative and creative communications with mass audiences translated into over 2,000 ad campaigns being rolled out from the Percept stable over the past two decades. Some of the more memorable and path breaking ads conceptualised by Shailendra Singh included the long running ‘Desh Ki Dhadkan’ campaign, the prestigious ‘Jai Ho’ and ‘Bharat Nirman’ campaigns, the immortal ‘Coming Home to Siyarams’ series, and the highly recalled Force India and Bharti Airtel campaigns. He has received numerous national and international awards including the celebrated Promax BDA Awards, Graphis Advertising Awards, Abby Awards, ICE Awards and the Golden Awards of Montreaux. Today, Percept’s Advertising arm is ranked amongst the Top 5 ad agencies in India.

Apart from being a great thinker and visionary he is also an avid sportsperson. He has played a key role in positioning Percept and representing the country in the international arena especially in the field of sport with ‘Laureus’ coming to India. He has revolutionized the art and science of cricket marketing and management in India, and under his able leadership over a 100 key cricketing events have been conceptualized and managed by Percept. He is also credited with introducing and promoting alternate sports such as Boxing to Indian audiences, and ‘Fight Night’ has already garnered much popularity and many fans across the country.

His interests in the creative sphere in the entertainment genre drew him to research and led to the birth of Percept Pictures. Today, Percept is one of the leading corporates with a fully integrated value chain offering for film production, distribution and marketing. Singh’s deep understanding of the global audience, genres and markets has led to producing and partnering meaningful and commercially viable cinema products. He has broken barriers and adopted innovative systems and technologies, expanding entertainment markets, improving consumer connect through content, market research, and value chain integration. His research insights helped rediscover the magic of Animation and mythology in India through “Hanuman”.

He foresaw the importance of creating, owning and marketing Intellectual Properties and was one of the first visionaries in the country to create and launch a series of innovative and successful IPs in the Entertainment, Media and Communications arena including Sunburn, Bollywood Live, Fight Nights, Champions of the World, Goa Super Sixes, Good Luck India and Slamfest.

Shailendra Singh was inducted into the celebrated ‘Hall of Fame’ at the Golden Cursor Animation Award – 2008, for his contribution to the animation sector. He has also received 11 National Film Awards, 5 V Shantaram Awards, 2 FICCI – BAF Awards, and 11 Filmfare Awards, amongst other prestigious awards, for his path breaking, meaningful and innovative feature films including Kancheevaram, Firaaq, Phir Milenge, Bose – The Forgotten Hero, Page 3, Traffic Signal, Yahaan and Hanuman. He was also felicitated with the ’24 FPS 2006 Power Personality of the Year’ award for his outstanding role in the Entertainment, Media and Communications domain. He was recently honoured with the prestigious ‘India’s Dynamic Entrepreneur of the Year 2011’ award at the India Leadership Conclave 2011.

His vision and assiduous efforts to build an indigenous organisation with a global imprint has led to Percept being in an enviable leadership position in the entertainment, media and communications space today, with a team of over 1,200 people, 62 offices across India and the Middle East, and capitalized billings of about INR 26 billion (FY’11).

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Over the last decade he has held several key management positions in Sponsorship & Brand Execution Strategy - Director of Sponsorship, Richemont International, reporting to the Chairman, based in Cape Town (1994 - 2004), specialized in event creation and brand ownership for Companie Financier Richemont AG (1994-1998 and London 1999-2004). This included major international sponsorships in Formula 1, Rugby, Soccer, Golf and Music. With the Chairman as Founder and Richemont and DaimlerChrysler as Founding Patrons, co-Founded and as CEO developed the Laureus World Sports Awards and Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. In 2001, with the Chairman as Founder, co-founded the Dunhill links championship and was the Director of the Championship Committee together with Johann Rupert, Sir Michael Bonallack and Ian Webb.

Iain returned from London to Cape Town in the year 2005 and established his own consultancy and development Company. With partners he acquired the 485 hectare Two Rivers Farm in Franschhoek outside Cape Town from Anglo-American, to develop a private golf club and exclusive lifestyle farm.

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He later joined Atherton Engineering Co., Kolkata where he specialized in direct sales of aviation spares to Corporates. He moved on to join Maheshwari, Mantri & Co., a firm of Chartered Accountants in Kolkata and was deputed to work in Citibank N.A. in the Consumer Banking Division where he specialised in Consumer Loan Sales, Credit and Collections. Later, he shifted base to Mumbai to work as a Manager (Marketing) with Pie Medical, a joint venture with Pie Medical BV, Netherland. Here he set up a medical equipment distribution network on an all India basis.

Finally after 7 years of exposure to consumer marketing and direct sales, he joined Percept in the Client Servicing arena. Over the next nine years, Ajay grew in the agency to the rank of Sr. Account Director handling an independent Strategic Business Unit which handled key agency accounts including Bharti Telecom - India’s largest private telecom operator, Sahara - India’s second largest private Airline operator and India’s largest Housing & Infrastructure group, and Force Motors Ltd. - a company operating under license with Diamler Chrysler.

He was selected to join the Group Corporate Office as Vice President, Strategic Planning and MIS in 2001 and was later promoted to Vice President, Corporate Affairs in 2004. Further he was promoted to President, Corporate Affairs in 2006 and was also inducted as a member of the Board of Directors of Percept Limited in 2007. In 2011 Ajay rose the position of Chief Operating Officer, Percept Limited.

Having spent 19 years at Percept, Ajay is currently responsible for the strategic business development of the group including strategic partnerships, acquisitions and development of new business verticals. Part of his role covers strategic financial management of the group to optimize utilization of funds and return on investments and to ensure that the approved strategies are effectively implemented by the Chief Executive Officers of the Group.

In the course of his career he has been responsible for overseeing and closing more than 15 M&A transactions - both overseas investments in the group and also domestic acquisitions. As part of his role, Ajay specifically builds and manages partner and investor relations.

Along with an MBA in Marketing Ajay has also completed certificate courses in Strategic Alliance Management and Private Equity Management at the ISB.

Ajay enjoys reading, travelling and swimming, and is a keen animal lover having an African Grey Parrot and an English Cocker Spaniel at home. Ajay has also started learning to play the Piano.

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He started off his career as an Article Clerk at a chartered accountancy firm. Later he joined Universal Cylinders Ltd. as an Accounts Officer and thereafter moved to Cranex Ltd. as Manager, Finance.

Soon afterwards, he joined Percept as the Chief of Finance, Accounts & Taxation, and has since then been an integral part in building the foundation for Percept. He has journeyed with the brand for more than 18 years and plays an active role in the financial and strategic planning of the company including fund raising. He is operationally responsible for all financial activities undertaken within the group and controls and process all finance related issues

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He has also been instrumental in Percept/H winning 23 international awards in various international festivals like London Festival, New York Festival, Montreux Festival, Global, Graphis and Mobius Chicago. Domestic awards in creativity for Percept/H include Abbys, Goa Fest and Ice Awards.

Erstwhile President of SSC&B Lintas, Ajay Chandwani did his BSc (Hons) and later pursued MMS from JB Institute of Management Studies. Ajay has been on the awards jury of the New York festivals and the Montreux Advertising festival. Ajay is also the Chairman of the Abby Awards judging committee and the Joint Secretary of the Advertising Club. He is a Member of the International Advertising Agencies Association. Earlier, Ajay received the ‘Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Advertising Fraternity’ in the 5th Indira Marketing Excellence Award.

Ajay has a keen interest in Photography (Wildlife & Photography), Collecting Antiques and is an Audio & Music aficionado with interest in Rock and Jazz.

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