AG Krishnamurthy, Mudra's founder, passes away

AG Krishnamurthy, the founder of Mudra Communications, passed away in Hyderabad after a brief illness early this morning. He was 73.

AGK (as he was known) was an outsider to the business when he took charge of Reliance Industries' advertising division which had to promote the company's inhouse fabric brand, Vimal. His experience in the process led to the establishment of an independent advertising agency, Mudra, in 1980. It began to pick up the advertising business of other Gujarat-based entrepreneurs. Gradually, Mudra established its presence across the whole of India, becoming the first truly national-level Indian agency which could challenge multinational ad networks for business.

An outsider to the end - Mudra continued to be headquartered out of Ahmedabad in his lifetime - AGK had an original take on life as well as the advertising business. It was his passion that led to the founding of MICA, the institute for strategic marketing and communications, in 1991. Ironically, today is the 25th anniversary of MICA. AGK could not have chosen a more appropriate day to say goodbye.

To read afaqs!’ last interview with AGK, in June 2013, Click here.

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