Devraj Sanyal quits 360 Degrees; to join Percept D'Mark as COO

Devraj Sanyal, operating chief of 360 Degrees, the event management division of Times Infotainment Media, has put in his papers at the company. Sanyal, who is currently serving his 45-day notice period at 360 Degrees, is scheduled to join Percept D'Mark (the JV between Percept IMC and the $10.6-billion Aegis Group) as COO, and will be reporting directly to Percept's head, Shailendra Singh. Confirming the news of his departure from 360 Degrees, Sanyal informed agencyfaqs! that he would be at 360 Degrees till January 9, 2004, and would move to Percept D'Mark thereafter.

Moving out of 360 Degrees is "an emotional experience", admits Sanyal. "In many ways, this is my baby, as I was the first employee here." For the record, over two years ago, the Times Group had mandated Sanyal to put its event management division into orbit. "AP Parigi (managing director, Entertainment Network India Limited) and Vineet Jain (managing director, Times Group) had offered me the responsibility of creating the company's event management business," says Sanyal, who has, in the past, headed brands such as Elle (1996-98) and Baccarose (1998-2000), and who also helped set up Euro RSCG India's events and PR division. Terming his two years at 360 Degrees as "great and very eventful", Sanyal credits Parigi for being a "fantastic teacher from whom I learnt a lot".

Sanyal is also pleased with what he has achieved at 360 Degrees. "My mandate was to create an independent and profitable SBU with strong regional offices, and achieve significant market share in the business," he says. "In just two-and-a-half years, this has grown into an 80-strong organisation, with five profitable regional offices. We have organised some 1,200 reasonably-large-to-large events, and our regular clients include multinationals like Castrol and MasterCard. The company will end this year with a turnover of Rs 35 crore, almost all of it from outside (non-Times Group) business, and we are today among the top five event management companies in India, both in market share and mind share terms. We have demonstrated rapid growth in all areas."

So what prompted the move? "I have served my basic mandate, which was to marry people and organisational skill sets to yield revenue," Sanyal says. "Today, each of our branches is running profitably, and 360 Degrees doesn't need hand-holding. I have done what was expected of me, and it's time to move on." And he feels that the D'Mark assignment is just the thing to do. "I have a clear mandate to integrate all the businesses there and take the company to a new dimension by strengthening and building in management skill sets. Unlike 360 Degrees when it started, Percept D'Mark is an established name and has already evolved as a strong organisation with a significant turnover. My job is to propel the next phase of D'Mark's growth and make it a Rs 500-crore company."

Interestingly, Sanyal is the second senior-level executive to quit the Times Group to join Percept D'Mark in the very recent past. Barely a fortnight ago, Radio Mirchi's Sunil Sajhwani, national creative head of Entertainment Network India Limited (which runs Radio Mirchi), decided to quit the company. The filmmaker, best known for directing CHannel [V]'s popular countdown show BPL Oye, will be joining Percept Picture Company (Percept D'Mark's film division) as CEO sometime in mid-January. And the grapevine has it that one or two more Times Group executives are likely to be heading for Percept D'Mark. © 2003 agencyfaqs!