Global advertising biggie Saatchi & Saatchi has not been in news much in India. But that might soon change. On his recent visit to India, CEO Worldwide of the company Kevin Roberts tells FE?s Vishakha Talreja Guha why the pace of their work has been slow here and how they are looking at doubling their business in the Indian market soon. Excerpts:

What plans does Saatchi & Saatchi have for the India market?

We consider 2012 to be our start up year here. We want to be a part of new India ? the progressive India, the contemporary India, digital India and the social India. So, of course, we will focus on digital and viral media, as today consumers are constantly busy facebooking, tweeting, BBMing and youtubing. In this market it?s difficult to control brands or the consumers or the media. We will also be scouting for new domestic clients. We would love to work with a company like Tata or Reliance and make them a ?Lovemarks? brand. Lovemarks is when we take brand loyalty beyond reason, establishing an intimate relationship between the brand and the customers. We want to double our business in India soon.

Even when other ad agencies have been quite active, you have been slow here..

We have been slow here because our main client Procter & Gamble has been waiting and watching, even though this market is the lion?s den for them. India is home for Hindustan Lever and Colgate. Only in the last five years P&G has said that we are ready. P&G is very committed to India now and we are their biggest partners. Ditto for our other clients such as Kraft and Toyota. Kraft?s acquisition of Cadbury is a good thing for us with its brands like Dairy Milk high on advertising. We have our young India CEO Matt Seddon to get things going.

But in India, expats in leadership roles has not really worked for the advertising agencies. Also how do you intend to retain people considering that the attrition in this industry is so high?

Indians are not very arrogant. You have IPL here and many foreigners play for domestic teams. So we are playing the IPL and Matt is our Shane Warne. Matt is Saatchi & Saatchi and he is world class, so it will work for us. For people, I don?t care about retaining them, but I care about inspiring them. We will give them four things ? responsibility, learning, recognition and joy. If you give people these four things they will never leave. We want to be a magnet for talent.

Which are your key growth markets in Asia?

China, China and China. It is a very strong market for us growing at 25% per annum. Singapore and Thailand are also growing really well. Asia is very important for us, because it?s from these markets that the growth will come. We can?t bank on European countries right now. Even though India is showing good growth, it?s very difficult to do business here. The government is opaque and inconsistent, which can slow things down. For instance, if you are Vodafone right now you have a reason to be really pissed.

In India even big corporates are open to the idea of going to small agencies today. What are you bringing to the table, besides being a big network agency? How much of your business is from international clients ?

Well we are the most famous agency in the world. We are the Manchester United not some local village club, so you know what I am talking about. Around 70% of our clients are international and 30% domestic. In India, too, the ratio is the same. But the lines are blurring between domestic and international clients. For instance in China, Lenovo is a home-grown brand but global account in nature.