RMAI concludes 16th AGM; New leadership takes charge

The Rural Marketing Association of India (RMAI) conducted its 16th Annual General Meeting on 1 st May 2021 virtually. The meeting started with the immediate past Hon. General Secretary of the Association, Mr. Himanshu Shah, welcoming the member attendees. Mr Shah opened the meeting for discussion, presented brief synopsis of Flame Awards Asia held virtually in month of October 2020 and also presented the financials and unaudited report for the financial year.

Mr. Biswabaran Chakrabarti, in his President’s speech, highlighted the activities and initiatives taken by the association in the year gone by. While he expressed concerns about the long pandemic that we are passing through, he wished well-being of all members and associates. He mentioned about the two phases of a total of nine part webinar series conducted by RMAI during the year, which were very relevant in the current scenario. Dr Anup Kalra, Vice President, thanked the National Advisory Council for their role and invited them to share their observations on the year under reference and to declare the results of the General Body Election.

On behalf of the National Advisory Council & Election Committee, Mr. Sanjay Kaul, Chairperson of the council, announced the results of the General Body elections.

Mr. Biswabaran Chakrabarti, was re-elected as the President of RMAI for the third consecutive term. He said, “I thank our members for finding me suitable for this position. I thank the leadership team and all members for keeping the association active digitally during these trying times. Way forward, my core objective will be to strengthen and focus on our role as a knowledge platform for the rural fraternity and add value to the way of working of the many business sectors, working in, and working for the rural domain of our country.”

The newly elected committee of RMAI, headed by Mr. Biswabaran Chakrabarti as President shall include Dr Anup Kalra from Ayurvet Ltd as Vice President; Mr. Sandip Bansal from Dialogue Factory (GroupM Media) as Treasurer; and advertising veteran and director of Rural Campus Mr. Rajkumar Jha as the General Secretary.

The new elected executive committee includes Ms. Nidhi Singh, CEO, Impact Communications; Ms. Heena Mistry, Director, SOI Live Marketing & Events; Ms. Kadambari Lokhande, COO, Rural Relations; Mr. Venkatram Vasantavada, MD and CEO, SeedWorks International; Mr. Hitendra Joshi, AVP, Hyperspace Rural (Dentsu International); Mr. Amit Rangra, EBD & VP, Wunderman Thompson; Mr. Khurram Askari, MD, Insight Outreach Pvt Ltd; Mr. Sunny Vohra, CEO, Anugrah Madison; Mr. Varun Agarwal, Head – Business Platforms, Tata Steel Ltd; Mr. Kiran Zende, Director, Yadnya Brandscapes Pvt. Ltd; Mr. Deepak Mittal, CEO, Mittal & Associates; Dr. D. Ravinath, Professor, Vignana Jyothi Institute of Management; Mr. Mohd. Rafi Qureshi, MD, Zeeco Media; Mr. Taranbir Singh Sahni, Partner, White Horse Event Management and Mr. Rahul Nayyar, Executive Director, R S Infomedia and Films.

The President nominated and welcomed following members to the National Advisory Council of RMAI. This council includes Mr. Sanjay Kaul, Chairman, Impact Group of Companies as Chairperson; Mr. Sanjay Panigrahi, Former Chief Customer Officer, Pidilite Industries; Mr. Pradeep Lokhande, Founder, Rural Relations; Mr. Puneet Vidyarthi, Head Product Marketing (CE Business), CNH Industrial; & Prof. Anirban Chaudhuri, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon.