GROWING

PUBLIC
RELATIONS
INDUSTRY
IN INDIA
From History to
Contemporary Times

Admin
Growing Public Relations Industry in India

GROWING PUBLIC RELATIONS INDUSTRY IN

INDIA
FROM HISTORY TO CONTEMPORARY TIMES

ABSTRACT

This paper provides an insight into the Indian PR industry from a global lens. The
objective is to trace the growing trends that the Indian industry has witnessed based
on the constantly changing public opinion and preferences. In the light of the fact that
India has had a dramatic history beginning from the ancient India to the post-
independence era, certain sections of the paper draws emphasis on the history. As a
developing country, it is witnessing drastic changes in the business arena and is
turning highly competitive internationally. As a country, India offers a complex target
audience that is a blend of various cultures and preferences which is another focal
point of the paper. These two elements are the points of departure for the study of
evolution of PR in India.
The purpose of the paper is to provide a macrocosmic assessment of the emerging
social media, its effects on the Indian PR industry, and the contemporary challenges.
In addition, the paper also looks at the future opportunities for the PR industry in the
country supported by numbers from the past performance of the country in the PR
industry.

INTRODUCTION

In order to understand the contemporary trends in the Indian public relations, it is

crucial to analyze the history of the country with respect to public relations. The

history and culture are significant elements of the foundation of the PR industry and

have majorly impacted its growth over the years.

The roots of the Indian PR industry can be unearthed back to the ancient India of

Mughal period when the rulers employed bards who would sing achievements of the

royal patron to glorify them. The very fundamental model of the Indian public

relations can also be claimed as the Mythological public relations where the Indian

epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana describe the methods of communication used

by the kings to rule and to communicate with their publics in order to harmonize their
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relationships. The great religious leaders would travel the world and disseminate the

ideas and teachings of their religion. This model of shaping public opinions is one

calls the Propaganda model (1500BC- 1857 AD). During the early stages, the

practice of public relations was a liberal and was an act of philanthropy (by

companies like Tata Iron and Steel) which simply included just disseminating the

information to the public till the independence of India(1858-1947). The systematic

practice of public relations began when the Great Indian Peninsular railways launched

a campaign in England under the British Raj to attract the tourists. This practice

resonates James Grunigs public information model, which is one-way in nature. India

witnessed the Asymmetrical public relations model post the independence when mass

communication played a salient role in spreading awareness about the actions of the

newly formed democratic government.

For a country like India which is still developing, it was necessary that the public and

private sectors communicate to benefit each other. The Central Bureau of Information

was created as an agent of communication between the government and press in the

early 20s to serve the purpose. The emerging globalization, various developments in

all the sectors, gave the PR industry an opportunity to grow. During the world

economic regression, the international markets were hit that them to withdraw the

money invested in marketing. After suffering from losses they hunted for markets that

were more lucrative and offered English speaking employees. They landed in the

markets of India and China. The past of public relations in India is highly debated.

Some argue the fact that Indian PR history consists of four stages of historical

evolution- the early stage, the stage of conscious PR, the third stage of PR and

professionalism in PR. On the other hand, there is a categorization of the history into

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broad three phases- Propaganda, publicity and public information, and public relations

in the post-independent India.1

Growth

With the advancement of democracy and foreign investments entering the economic

sector, the concept of brand image in the eyes of the public, grew. The PR industry

that fundamentally began as a practice in 1990s in the country started blooming from

the early to mid-1980s when New York based Burson-Marsteller bought Indian

Public Relations firm Genesis, Hanmer and Partners, 20:20 Media and 2020 Social

were integrated into the MSLGROUP and Ogilvy & Mather, opened offices in India.

The economy of the country was showing high growth rate and the advancement of

the traditional media gave the PR industry much scope. Apart from the United States

based PR firms launching in India, some Indian PR companies like Adfactors and

Perfect Relations were also successful in bringing the practice to the forefront by

going global. In 2002, the sectors like healthcare, technology, brands and finance

became an area of concentration for Blue Lotus Communications. This era also

witnessed the arrival of the i-9 communication (consumer communication) and

boutique PR agencies.

With the outstanding growth of PR industry in the country, the definition of PR has

evolved. Today, it is more than just maintaining goodwill and writing press releases.

Contemporary public relations required strategic positioning, repositioning and brand

building with the coming of multinational companies in India. The advancement of

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various media platforms and business ventures, have provided the present public

relations in India an opportunity to offer integrated solutions.

The economic liberalization has made the private sector aware of the need of PR in

order to expand their marketplace and maintain their relationship with the public. The

role of public relations is just not confined to maintain the media relations, but also to

provide their clients with strategic communications. As a consequence, the investment

in the PR industry in India began to grow as the focus shifted to the importance of

public opinion. The practice of public relations can help them draw strategies and

content to reach out to the audience and also monitor the needs of the stakeholders.

The proliferation of the social media along with the traditional media has made it a

part of the communication strategy. Therefore, it is important that emerging Indian PR

keeps up with the social media culture. However, it comes as a challenge since the

more number of platforms that social media offers, the more it fragments the

audience. This division in target audience leads to different types of public opinions

that the PR experts in India have to catch up with where these opinions are often

influenced by various cultures.

In the initial stages of the development of the PR industry the practice of public

relations wasnt accepted widely. The potential of the PR industry wasnt really

recognized even when the annual growth was 30 percent. The opportunities that this

industry offers are not completely explored in India and often are viewed only in

terms of media relations. One of the biggest challenge for the Indian PR industry is to

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sculpt the perception of public relations in the eyes of the Indian audience because the

fine line between public relations, media relations and advertising is often blurred.

This challenge is followed by helping the brands with strategic planning to engross

wise audience in a conversation with the brand. Lack of skilled professionals,

training, infrastructure, the image of employer brand, and talent crisis are integral

challenges faced by the contemporary PR industry.

The PR industry in India is underappreciated. Often, the clients of this industry deny

to see the value of PR and as a result, they see paying it as a long standing issue. The

major issue that the industry is facing in the contemporary times is the unbridled

under-cutting and no standard fee-per-resource norm. The shortening of the budget

becomes a challenge in the times of crisis when it faces constraints.

In the MSLGROUP Report 2012, Jaideep Shergill, the then CEO of Hanmer MSL,

India explained, There is always a tussle with clients regarding PR budgets. They are

the ones controlling the money. Whenever the markets are down, budgets are

slashed.As the companies got competitive, the investment in marketing also rose

with an increase in demand for handling the public relations. The involvement of

social media has been on a toll even in developing countries like India where the

social media campaigns are used as a tool to address the market audience directly and

to develop relationship with the stakeholders. With the unstoppable expand of social

media all over the world, the Indian PR industry has also been affected in numerous

ways. Today the digital, social media, and content-driven campaigns contribute

almost 29 percent to the revenue of the public relations firms.

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Public Sector and Private sector PR

Ever since the country gained its independence and got on the track of economic

growth, the economy has grown to be more complex along with the increasing social

tensions. The then existing social frameworks were making it more difficult to resolve

these social and economic complexities. In order to search a concrete solution for the

problems, India turned to public relations in the public sector. There was no attempt to

define the universe of PR communication for the public-sector institutions.1

The role of public relations in the public sector of India proves to be of utmost

importance. The government makes use of PR in the functioning of the government

through various methods that include essentially the implementation of the public

policy, media relations in order to cover the activities of the government, and to

mobilize the support for the government. In the recent years, Indian government has

launched various successful campaigns through various public relations tactics.

One of the most successful example is Incredible India, a marketing campaign

launched by the government of India to promote tourism in India in the year 2002.

The campaign was designed in a way to reaches out to the global audience. The

campaign also focused on the brand image by relating it to a face of a celebrity.

Although such campaigns have been successful, but public relations in the public

sector still face some issues that India still needs to tackle. The lack of transparency is

one of the major hurdles. The functioning of the government is opaque which is

against the very fundamental principles of PR. The bureaucratic stranglehold on the

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agencies is firm which makes it difficult for the professionals to practice fair public

relations in the country.

In the private sector with the emergence of multi-national corporations in the early

1990s and the entering of foreign direct investment the private industry became

highly competitive and the companies were now concerned with various attributes

that could affect their reputation. They wanted to gain access to new markets, widen

their target audience, develop relationships with them, and for advocacy and

fundraising. This ultimately led PR industry to step into the private sector.

PRSI and PRCAI

India lacked an official public relations body post eleven years of independence until

PRSI, Public Relations Society of India was formed. It was established in 1958 to

formally run public relations as a profession in India. Kali H. Mody is considered to

be the father figure of public relations practices in India and also the founder

President of PRSI. The chapters were launched in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and

Kolkata till 1969. The members of the PRSI chapters included practitioners from both

public and private sectors.

The Public Relations Consultants Association of India, PRCAI formed in 2001, is a

trade organization that represents public relations consultancy firms in India. Its

mission is to consistently establish benchmarking standards, knowledge, ethics and

expertise and to encourage and promote the progression of Public relations Industry in

India, while endorsing the effectiveness of professional and ethical services.5 It is

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affiliated with International Consultancy Communication Organization, United

Kingdom.

The Success Story

According to a survey State of the Industry Survey 2017 carried out by the Public

Relations Consulting Association of India along with FeedbackBusiness Consulting

among 36 public relations firms and 28 corporate teams of various companies, the

industry grew more the double the size in the country between the fiscal percent and

touched Rs. 1,315 crore ($13,15 billion) according to the Public Relations Consultants

Association of India (PRCAI). And it is also expected that the public relations

industry will continue to grow and will register a double-digit growth2 by reaching

Rs.2,000 crore ($20 billion) by the year 2020.

This year, we increased the ambit of the survey by including in-house

communicators. The findings of the report this year again points to the fact that the

key to successful PR in todays world lies in integrated PR solutions and visual

communications. Constant innovation and smart adaptation to the changing landscape

are indispensable for PR firms today, said Nitin Mantri, president of PRCAI and

chief executive of Avian Media.3Presently, the retail, automobile and the packaged

consumer goods are the biggest revenue sources for the PR firms.

CONCLUSION

The size of the PR industry is still growing along with the expanding economy of the

country. The history of the industry has concrete basis and is now taking gradual steps

to increase the importance of the public relations in both public and private sectors.

Since the post-independence era, it is trying to overcome the hurdles gradually which

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is making it a thriving profession in the contemporary times. With the annual rate of

32 percent, it is now able to modify the traditional definition of public relations that

have existed for the country. Not only the private sector but the government sector

also actively engages PR in order to build a brand image for themselves and

strategically communicate with the publics.

With the formation of associations like PRSI and PRCAI, the basis of the PR industry

has become firmer. Today, almost all the companies in the public sector have PR

departments. The role of public relations has evolved from media and employee

communications to strategic communications, brand building, customer relations and

crisis management.

ATTRIBUTION

Banerjee. (October 5th, 2015). The Museum of Public Relations- Inception of

PR in India. Accessed at:

http://www.prmuseum.org/blog/2017/10/5/inception-of-pr-in-india

MSLGROUP. (2012). Indian PR Industry: Challenges, Opportunities & 2012

Outlook. Accessed at https://www.slideshare.net/mslgroup/india-pr-industry-

challenges-opportunities-2012-outlook

H and Jetha. (February 3rd, 2014). Public Relations in India: Impact of the

Economic Downturn and the 2014 outlook. Accessed at:

http://asia.mslgroup.com/insights/mslgroup-releases-its-latest-executive-

report-public-relations-in-india-the-impact-of-the-economic-downturn-and-

the-2014-outlook/

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Growing Public Relations Industry in India

State of Indian Public Relations Industry (2016): PRCAI (Public Relations

Consulting association of India) along with Feedback Business Consulting.

Website. Accessed at http://www.mxmindia.com/wp-

content/uploads/2016/09/PR-Industry-Status-2016.pdf

Public Relations Society of India. Website. Accessed at

http://prsi.org.in/index.html

1: Jain. PR Landscape. Published by Global Alliance for Public Relations and

Communication Management for information.

2, 3: Tewari. (September 15th, 2017). PR industry in India grows 18 percent to

reach Rs. 1315 crore in 2017: report. Accessed at

http://www.livemint.com/Consumer/kjEyXsYEZaTZRx2jXSSuMJ/PR-

industry-in-India-grows-at-18-to-reach-Rs1-315-crore-in.html

4: Sarkhedi. (November 22nd, 2016) Public Relations in Public sector: Critical

analysis. Accessed at https://yourstory.com/2016/11/4585001d91-public-

relations-in-public-sector-critical-analysis/

5: Jethwaney. Evolution of PR in India and its present status. Accessed at

http://www.newswriters.in/2015/10/10/evolution-of-pr-in-india-and-its-

present-status/

Shodhganga. Chapter 3. Public Relations in India. Accesssed at

hodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/105765/5/th-1915-

%20chapter%203.pdf

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