L S Krishnan and Indranil Datta to exit Sakal

While Krishnan is expected to leave the Pune-based company by the end of the financial year, Datta's last day at the company is February 18.

Two top-level executives from the Sakal Media Group -- L S Krishnan, business head, and Indranil Datta, head, marketing -- have decided to call it a day at the company.

While Krishnan will continue his stint until the end of this financial year (March 31), Datta's last day at the company is February 18.

Krishnan and Datta have confirmed the development to afaqs!. Both add that they will continue to stay in the media space after leaving Sakal Media.

Prior to joining Sakal, Krishnan was president at Mudra Max. This graduate in Economics (Hons) from Delhi University completed MBA in Marketing Management from JBIMS. Krishnan started his career with the Response division of The Times of India in ad sales. He left the organisation as senior manager to join HTA's (Hindustan Thompson Associates, now JWT) Fulcrum to head buying.

Four years later, Krishnan ventured into the online space, and was the founding member of the online agency Mediaturf. Later, he led the Tata account at Rediffusion-Y&R, and subsequently, worked as president at Hit 95 FM, Delhi. From there, he moved on to Mudra Max.

Datta was senior vice-president at Mudra Max, before he was appointed as marketing head at Sakal.

Datta, who has more than 23 years of experience, has worked with several agencies in the country, handling various media functions. His area of expertise includes strategic planning, business development, developing integrated marketing communication, and unearthing consumer insights.

Apart From Mudra Max, he has been associated with Mudra Radar (earlier known as Optimum Media Solutions) as vice-president and national head, strategy and knowledge. Earlier, he was executive director, Starcom Worldwide, Bengaluru. As a consultant, he has also worked for Bates Asia Strategic Alliances, Colombo.

Armed with an MBA degree from Bharati Vidyapeeth, he started his career with FCB Ulka Advertising, Mumbai, as a management trainee and later moved on to Clarion Advertising Services, Mumbai, as media supervisor, planning. He has also had stints at Lowe India (then Lintas India) Mumbai, as senior manager, Initiative Media, Kolkata, as media supervisor, planning, and Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai, as senior consultant.

He is also credited with the re-launch of Zenith Media in India as the company's senior vice-president, and streamlining the Nokia account. He also set up Zenith Media's Delhi branch from scratch, and helped increase the company's business from US$638,000 to US$39 million in two-and-a-half years.