Good Afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen

I would like to extend a warm welcome to all of you – my colleagues from the PR industry, members of the corporate world and the media.

And I would like to specifically thank Chris McDowall, Secretary General of the International Communication Consultancies Organisation (ICCO), for being present at this momentous occasion today – the launching of the Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI).

PRCAI is a milestone in the (nascent) history of Indian PR. The efforts of all my colleagues over the past few years to form this umbrella body that would work to enhance the standards of this industry in the country have borne fruit! In short, PRCAI aims to bring homogeneity in the industry from what it is today – a heterogeneous pool of Firms battling to offer varied services both at the national and the regional levels.

I am sure there are many more milestones to come as we embark on the long journey to develop Standards, Ethics, Expertise and Knowledge in the Indian PR industry.

The timing of this launch is also quite noteworthy. The status of PR as a communications tool as the clients’ understanding of its role in the marketing and business mix is rising in the country.

For too long, PR in India has been seen as a delivery mechanism for selective messages, mainly via media relations. ‘PR’ has been seen as the province of spin – doctors, Edinas and the gin & tonic brigade. I would like to wallow in the self – pity that the industry reputation is all the media’s fault, like John Lydon who was notorious as the Sex Pistol’s Johnny Rotten and tendentiously claimed in 1986 that ‘my reputation is a media creation.’ There is no dearth of people saying that closer home! However, in recent times, greater emphasis has been put upon communications strategy that has been shaped by research and consultancy insights.

The PR industry in the West is feeling the pinch. Dot.com demises, changes in the white House, and mergers within the industry analysts say the future is bright, but, according to them, caution is the word.

In Europe, on the other hand, many PR professionals point to the relative lack of maturity in the German, French and Italian PR markets when compared to the U.S. and the U.K. as being pointers for great opportunities on the horizon.

The Asian PR scene has been hit badly by the U.S. economic slowdown, but China is emerging as the new center of PR power. PR is all too often seen as discretionary spending in Asia and has been hit hard.

This is not to discount the turbulence this year, what with the palpitations of the PR industry in India being almost audible after being hit (badly) by the US economic slowdown and the explosion of the much – hyped dot.com bubble.

The prospects of a dream script being rewritten can be seen again. With the growing need for information, both clients and consulting firms began to leverage the power of the spoken and written word, finally giving PR the credibility it has been striving for in the recent decade.

The industry is more prepared to handle these business ups and downs together. There is no more talk about the new economy, which saw the PR industry gallop ahead at over 30 to 40 percent annually in the past few years. The new focus is on creating new recession – proof ways of communicating in ever-changing economies.

The launch of PRCAI today marks the maturity of this industry and giving shape to one voice of the industry and focus its concerns. I would like to mention one focus area – focus on learning and development programmes so as to upgrade skill sets and improve the service standards of the existing talent pool.

How many of us or our clients would go to a Doctor or a Lawyer and ask about their qualifications and professional standards before we ask for treatment or advice? We do not because we know that to be a Doctor or a Lawyer they have certain standard and that they are “Professional”. Now, I ask, what about us? For the majority of us our potential clients spend as much as 75% of our first meeting trying to convince themselves that we are credible.

The Association will provide a formal, professional mechanism to improve the credibility, and thereby profitability, in PR while following a Code of Practice.

I would like to thank you all once again, for having made it to this occasion.