Ad cos hope to reap Budget benefits

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Mumbai: The Union Budget 2009 seems to a have a favorable impact on the Rs 19,000-crore advertising industry in India. With FMCG companies and others betting big on rural markets after the announcement of the Budget, major advertising agencies are consequently planning to strengthen their rural advertising & marketing wings. The abolition of FBT (Fringe Benefit Tax) has brought in some cheers to the ad industry as well.

For instance, Anigrah Madison (rural wing of Madison World) is planning to extend its operations and service offerings to handle the additional work. On the other hand, RK Swamy/BBDO is adding manpower to its existing team while Mudra Terra, Mudra's rural wing, is also strengthening its operations. “Relief by way of personal income tax and surcharge on IT will spur consumer spending. This will encourage marketers to invest more in advertising. Removal of FBT is also a great relief,” said Srinivasan K Swamy, chairman & managing director of RK Swamy BBDO.

On RK Swamy's rural strategy, Swamy said, “With many marketers turning their attention to rural India, we see an enormous opportunity to grow our business further. We are adding a couple of senior people in Delhi to provide additional leadership.”

According to R Seshadri, managing director of Anigrah Madison, Indian companies will now spend more on communicating with rural folks with all the sops given to this sector. We are gearing up to strengthen our service offerings to clients. Also, we are looking at expanding our operations geographically, he added.