In the first of a new series of reports on the PR scene around Ketchum's Asia Pacific Network, Praveen Rikhy, Managing Director, Melcole Public Relations gives us an insight into the growth of the industry in Asia's second fastest growing economy, India

It's an understatement to say that it is boom time for business in India. This is opening up huge opportunities in PR with the expanding horizontal frame for ancillary and support services. But break-neck growth is not without its challenges. PR is under pressure to perform better and faster whilst doing it for a lot less and delivering a lot more.

PR has struggled in India. In the eighties it evolved slowly in a near-barren usage landscape. Growth followed to keep pace with the expanding Indian economy and IT boom of the nineties before downsizing as the bubble burst towards the end of the decade.

All of these tribulations ended up, I believe, strengthening the fundamentals of the business in India creating performance and services indices in double quick time. Now PR is a qualified practice with established benchmarks that is allowing firms like MelCole to position themselves in a global service industry to a multitudinous influx of MNCs that are buying into the India story.

Media too has undergone a metamorphosis, not just in the expanding TV networks, newspaper editions and new media brands but also in terms of market segmentation, quality of content and range. A growing middle class and an army of the newly educated are making huge demands on information. While the internet is the new star on the horizon we are also witnessing a glorious revitalisation of radio and traditional channels of communication.

The challenges ahead are a combination of ramping up quickly in size and structure. Some consolidation in the industry has already begun with principal companies buying out subsidiaries in the subcontinent. But this brings concerns as consolidation creates unequal equations in the industry triggering off a series of knee jerk affiliations, responses and reactions. However, the maturity of the PR industry in India should take care of fissures as they come along and overall it can be safely expected that the industry will come out the better for it.

About MelCole PR:

MelCole PR is India's first stand-alone professional PR practice and has traversed the entire Indian economic story. MelCole PR established the market's first alliance with an international company with Ketchum in 1989. This exclusive affiliation has played a key role in bringing PR on par with global practices in India. MelCole has established practice areas in Technology and Health and Brand alongside MelCole's core expertise in public affairs and crisis communications following the formidable reputation of founder M.L. Kaul, whose 'Communication in a Crisis Situation' has become a textbook for PR professionals in India.

MelCole is today a three-city operation headquartered in New Delhi and offices in Bangalore and Mumbai. Associate networks in other cities give the agency an all-India footprint. MelCole PR has handled diverse accounts and continues to offer PR advice and expertise to a growing list of demanding clients.