Suprio Guha Thakurta made MD of Economist India

Suprio Guha Thakurta finds himself in a new role at The Economist Group. Under a new management structure in Asia, which takes effect from December 1, 2008, Thakurta has been made managing director of The Economist Group in India. He was earlier associate publisher.

As per the new structure, The Economist Group will merge the commercial functions of The Economist and the Economist Intelligence Unit businesses together into four sub-regions, each with its own managing director, commercial team and P&L, and each reporting to Tim Pinnegar.

These changes, aimed at regionalising and merging the businesses of the group, are part of the global restructuring of The Economist Group, which was announced in July 2008 by Andrew Rashbass, the group chief executive officer, on his appointment and the subsequent appointment of Tim Pinnegar to the newly created role of managing director, Asia Pacific.

Tim Pinnegar says in an official communiqué, “The new structure will allow greater autonomy to run our businesses from Asia. Our customers think of us as one Economist Group, not as separate functions, and we have taken the opportunity to serve our customers better and quicker, and use our resources more effectively as we move our business from a functional to a regional model.”

Pinnegar adds that the new structure will enable the group to build on the brand and ensure the growth of The Economist Group in Asia. He says the next 12 months will be extremely challenging, but he is confident that “this new structure will help the publication take advantage of the many opportunities that Asia offers”.