DMAi’s inaugural Marketer of the Year (MoY) awards gets Nita Kapoor as Chair; Ramesh Iyengar as Chair for second term at DMAi’s Hall of Fame(HoF) Selection Board

Mumbai, January 8, 2014: http://www.dmai.co/ DMAi, an apex not for profit, stands for the collective cause of advancing & protecting responsible data driven marketing & advertising has announced the appointment of Nita Kapoor as the Chairperson of DMAi 2014 Marketer of the Year Awards and Ramesh Iyengar as Chairperson of DMAi Hall of Fame which will take place on the sidelines of the DMAi 2014 Convention at New Delhi from 22^nd  to 24^th  January 2014.

On these appointments Vatsal Asher, CEO, DMAi noted “With such stellar industry participation, the DMAi has leapfrogged from the past into the present and is poised for the future. I welcome the new chairpersons for the MoY & HoF programs to further the collective cause. With such an eminent chair & jury members, we am certain the MoY will serve as the new gold standard for marketers in the days to come. The HoF has been now established as the standard for lifetime achievement & contribution. I also wish good luck to the eligible contenders for the citation & induction”

The Marketer of the Year Award is fashioned closely on the lines of the program at the global DMA. The program however has been re-modeled to serve the needs of the fraternity here. It is a joint citation for an individual & the company.

This program accolade honors the achievement, innovation, and inspiring leadership of an individual & the company whose work represents the very best in data-driven marketing industry. The individual & company being considered will have exhibited corporate and social responsibility through the innovation and implementation of new products, services, processes and growth within the last 12 months.

Those being considered have had a positive impact on the marketing community and excelled at connecting data and the consumer through data-driven marketing.

Speaking at her appointment Nita Kapoor said, “I believe DMAi has a great idea going. I volunteered my time because recognizing and bringing forth visionaries and exhibiting their transformations have a larger impact than we assume. Responsible & sustainable marketing is the call of the times. Sharing the best practices in play can benefit the entire industry.”

The jury members for the DMAi 2014 – MoY Awards now include Abhsihek Malhotra - Vice President & Partner at Booz & Co; Ambar Chowdhury - Principal at Deloitte; Arvind Wable - CEO & Executive Director at Draftfcb Ulka; Holger E. Metzger - Managing Director at TMRC Impact; Piyush Mathur - President at India for Nielsen; Rajesh Kumar - Head of Marketing, SAP Indian Sub-continent at SAP; Reena Ramachandran - Member Task Force, Performance Division at Cabinet secretariat; Sanjay Sharma - Group Creative Director at FCB Ulka; Sanjay Thapar - CEO, India at Bates and Sanjiv Kapur - Chief Marketing Officer at Citi

The DMAi Hall of Fame, now in its third year, honors Digital & Direct marketing professionals who have made outstanding career contributions to the practice, growth, and stature of the direct marketing process. It celebrates the spirit of direct & interactive marketing with innovation, collaboration, and creativity.

In line with DMAi's continuous efforts to create recognition for marketers who have made a difference in the way brands communicate with customers and raised the standards and level of professionalism in marketing. The DMAi Hall of Fame will recognize scholars, marketers, creatives and entrepreneurs who have impacted the direct & interactive industry.

DMAi's Hall of Fame is modeled along the lines of DMA Hall of Fame, the most prestigious award bestowed in the direct & interactive marketing community. DMAi Hall of Fame will felicitate lifetime achievers in two categories - living & posthumous and as many as four individuals can be inducted every year to serve as an inspiration for future generations and encourage excellence.

In the past the DMAi has inducted Drayton Bird, UK, Winnifred Knight, SA, Late Vivek Basrur, R Sridhar, B S Nagesh & Ramesh Iyengar.

According to Iyengar, “I have the proud distinction of being the first Indian inductee to the DMAi Hall of Fame and I am delighted to serve the DMAi & the fraternity for the second term as the chairperson of the selection board. Like the previous year this year too we have an eminent board of selectors that will bring about rightful recognition to the truly deserving.”

The selection board members including Jodie Sangster, Chairperson of the IFDMA, Winnifred Knight, - Managing Director and Owner, The Marketingsite.com; Ashok Ananthraman, Ex-ITC, Aditya Atri -Loyalty and CRM Consultant; Leena Basrur - Executive Chairman, Direxions Marketing Solutions Pvt Ltd; Raj Bhatia- Managing Director, UCP Loyalty Marketing Pvt Ltd; Nabanita Chaudhri- CRM Consultant, Nespresso SA; Kayzad Hiramanek- Senior Vice president Customer service& operations, ICICI Prudential life insurance; USA; Ramesh Ratan- CEO – Bell & Howells,  Director, Joyanto Mukherjee - SVKM's Harkisan Mehta Foundation Institute of Journalism and Mass Communication; and Shankar Seetaraman.

With the annual DMAi convention having expanded manifold, The DMA International ECHO Awards India edition has been retained back in Mumbai and will happen in June 2014.

The nominations for MoY & HoF are both open till 8 January 2014. The jury for the MoY meets in Delhi on 18 Jan and the selection board for the HoF meets on Jan 10 at Mumbai. The new recipients & inductees will be honored at a glittering ceremony on 23 Jan 2014 at the opulent Radisson blu, Mahipalpur, Delhi on the sidelines the 3^rd Annual DMAi Convention. Apart from the awards program the 3 day convention from 22^nd to 24 Jan will have 100+ speakers, 164 intense sessions, 15 Dynamic Conference streams.

About DMAi

About DMAi - http://www.dmai.co/

As an apex, not for profit DMAi, since 1992, brings about collective action for advancing & protecting responsible Data Driven Marketing and Advertising. As the key to making marketing relevant and provide sustained customer engagement DMAi advocates for creating industry standards for ethical conduct and effective self-regulation of the Data driven, Marketing & Advertising community. DMAi is also co-founder of the International Federation of DMA’s.

The DMAi, in recent times, has successfully conducted two annual global conventions drawing participation from over 125 corporations from India & afar. DMAi also sets stage for learning opportunities & intra vertical networking forums like-Day Learning Events called Master classes, peer to peer networking forums like the UNWIND, the CxO Roundtable. As a platform for motivation, the DMAi has established a credible Awards & Recognition program with industry participation. The DMAi Awards instituted in alliance with the DMA International ECHO Awards aim at providing global recognition for response driven and result oriented marketing. The Hall of Fame awards felicitates individuals with lifetime awards for their noteworthy contribution.

SMERA Ratings Ltd. completes 25,000 MSME ratings

Mumbai: January 08, 2014: India’s leading credit rating agency SMERARatings Ltd (SMERA) has recently completed 25,000Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises – (MSME) ratings in India.This milestone was achieved by SMERA in 8 years of its operations.SMERA Ratings Ltd., formerly known as SME Rating Agency of India Ltd., is a pioneer in MSME ratings and is also an accredited rating agency by Reserve Bank of India – (RBI)and Securities and Exchange Board of India – (SEBI). Within a short span, SMERA ratings have established a credible track record within the lending fraternity with Memorandum of Understanding – (MOU) with 36 Banks in the country.The popularity of credit ratings within the MSME sector was possible due to affordable cost of rating facilitated by the subsidy provided by the Ministry of MSME, Government of India and efficient execution of the scheme by National Small Industries Corporation – (NSIC).

Mr. Parag Patki,CEO, SMERA RatingsLtd, said “The MSME sector is the backbone of any economy, and the heath of the MSME sector is critical to ride the forthcoming wave of economic revival for the country. We expect increasing opportunities for the MSME sectorwith the Indian Governmenttaking measures to improve investment climate along with initial signs ofeconomic revival in the developed economies.SMERA believes that better managed, efficient and SMERA rated units are eminently positioned to harness these opportunities.

He further added,” SMERA remains committed to facilitating the growth of the MSME sector in India through its Credit Ratings Services and is looking forward to participate in the orderly growth of the sector”

Mr.Virendra Goyal-Vice President- SME (Sales),said “The MSME sector has a huge growth potential in India and the penetration of credit rating culture in the MSME sector is yet low. SMERA,in association with MSME development institutions, Ministry of MSMEand the Lender fraternity will continueto worktowards improving the adoption and thus penetration of credit ratings within the MSME sector.”

Mr.Ashutosh Satsangi-Vice President – Operationssaid, “SMERA has rated the companies diversified across sectors including Metal and Metal products, Electrical and Engineering Goods, Capital Goods, Textile, Plastic, and Food & Agro along with the companies in to Trading and Auto Ancillary business. The portfolio is geographically diversified with the Western region contributing the most to the total rated universe of SMERA with 42% followed by Northern region contributing to the tune of 28%. Contributionfrom Southern region and Eastern region stands at 24% and 6% respectively.

MSME’s derivepotential monetary and non-monetary benefits by availing SMERA’s Credit Rating services, besides building confidence in their lenders, customers, employees as well as suppliers.

About SMERA – http://www.smera.in

SMERA Ratings Limited (formerly SME Rating Agency of India Ltd.) is a joint initiative of Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), Dun & Bradstreet Information Services India Private Limited (D&B) and leading public and private sector banks in India. SMERA commenced its operations in 2005 as an exclusive credit rating agency for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector in the country.

SMERA is registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as a Credit Rating Agency (6th in India). More recently, the Company has received accreditation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as an External Credit Assessment Institution (ECAI) under BASEL - II norms for undertaking bank loan ratings. SMERA is also empanelled as an approved rating agency by the National Small Industries Corporation Ltd. (NSIC) under the "Performance & Credit Rating Scheme for Small Industries", approved by the Ministry of Small Scale Industries, Government of India.

Today, SMERA has achieved the reputation of providing comprehensive, transparent and reliable ratings, thus providing comfort and confidence to lenders and investors alike in decision making. SMERA Ratings have gained wide acceptability and are now an integral part of the risk assessment process within the lending and investing community.

SMERA, which has its Registered and Head Office in Mumbai, currently operates from 14 locations spread across the country.