Bombay University
Bombay University
XIC Mumbai
Elected as the President of ABCI for the first time for a term of 2 years
Introduction of the Elite Category Awards with Communicator of the Decade and Life Time Achievement Award at the 43rd Annual Awards Nite at the Hotel Taj Lands End on Friday, 27th February, 2004 at 06.00pm Dr. G C Banik was the First Communicator of the Decade whereas Mr. Anand Akerkar was the First Life Time Achievement Awardee of ABCI. Mrs. Anuradha Mahindra, Editor Verve Magazine and wife of Mr. Anand Mahindra was the Chief Guest.
I44th Annual Awards Nite on Friday, 10th December, 2004 at the Crystal Central at the Hotel Taj Mahal Mr. M. V. Kamath, Chairman Prasar Bharati was the Chief Guest with Mr. Narendra Jadhav, ED, RBI, Mr. Jayantrao Salgaokar of Kal Nirnay, Mr. Ramesh Dev, Noted Film Actor, Mr. Asjok Roy, MD, UB Group were the Guest of Honour. Excellence in Business Journalism – Mr. C. R. L. Narasimhan, The Hindu, Mr. Ramesh Narayan, MD, Canco Advertising with Excellence in Financial Communications, Mr. H. N. Sinor with Communicator of the Decade, Dr. N. G. Kannan, Director Marketing, IndianOil with Excellence in Brands Communications and MR. K. S. Neelakandan with Life Time Achievement Award were felicitated.
45th Annual Awards Nite on Friday, 28th October, 2005 wherein Mr. Kishor Chaukar, MD, Tata Industries was the Chief Guest, and Mr. Anil Dharkar, Editor Times of India were Guest of Honour. Mr. Anand Sankeshwar, MD, Vijay Karnataka for Excellence in Business Journalism and Mrs. Zelma Lazarus with Life Time Achievement Award were felicitated. Mr. A N Jha, GM, received the Trophy for the Magazine of the Year for Indian Oil
Reelected as president
Beginning of the Golden Jubilee Year with 46th Annual Awards Nite at the Tata Theatre, NCPA, held on Friday, 12th January, 2007 wherein His Excellency the Governor of Maharashtra S. M. Krishna was the Chief Guest with Mrs. Rajashree Birla, Dr. J. J. Irani, Director Tata Sons, Mr H. M. Bharuka, MD, Goodlass Nerolac Paints were the Guest of Honour. Mr. Bharat Kumar Raut, Executive Editor, Maharashtra Times for Excellence in Business Journalism, Bank of Baroda for Excellence in Brands Communications, Dr. Mrs. Prganya Ram, Executive President, Corporate Communications, Aditya Birla Group with Communicator of the Decade and Dr. C. V. Narasimha Reddi, Former DGIPR, Government of Andhra Pradesh with Life Time Achievement Award were felicitated at the hands of His Excellency.
ABCI has emerged to be First Professional Body in India to award Fellowship Accreditation to Business Communicators fraternity. On Friday, 20th April, 2007, 9 Senior Professionals were awarded with the Fellowship of the Brains Trust of ABCI. This was a special initiative taken by ABCI to commemorate its Golden Jubilee.
Reelected as president
47th Annual Awards Nite of ABCI took place at the Presidential Ball Room, Hotel Taj President, Colaba on Friday, 11th January, 2008 wherein Mrs. Rajashree Birla was the Chief Guest, MR. M. R. Chandurkar, MD, IPCA Lab and Mr. Dilip Dandekar, CMD, Camlin were the Guest of Honour. Promising Business Communicator, Global Business Communicator & re-instituted Excellence in Business Communications for a Non-Business Communications Professional were the categories introduced for the First time. ABCI in its history crossed more than 500 nominations this year. Mr. Sujit Patil, Manager, CC, Tata Chemicals, with Promising Business Communicator, Ms. K. Bhavani, Director Communications, Government of Singapore with Global Business Communicator and Mr. Ekanath Thakur, Hon'ble MP with Excellence in Business Communications for a Non-Business Communications Professional. He was the 2nd professional to be awarded with this award after Noted Jurist Mr. Nani Palkhiwala.
ComFest 08, a One and Half Day International Convention was organized by ABCI on 6th & 7th November, 2008 at the Hotel President, wherein Galaxy of Speakers, both from National & International level had come at the invitation of ABCI. This was followed by the 48th Annual Awards Nite on Friday, 7th November, 2008. His Excellency the Governor of Maharashtra Mr. S. C. Jamir was the Chief Guest on this occasion besides Mrs. Rajashree Birla, Mr. S. Govindan, GM Union Bank, Mr. Pravin Chaudhari, ED, Kansai Nerolac were the Guest of Honour. Mr. Roger Pereira, MD & CEO Edelman & Noted Radio Broadcaster Mr. Ameen Sayani were felicitated with the Life Time Achievement Award.
Reelected as president
One-day Comfest and 49th Annual Awards Nite of ABCI was held on Friday, March 19, 2010 at Presidential Ball Room, Taj President, Colaba. His Excellency Mr. K. Sankaranarayanan, Governor of Maharashtra, was the Chief Guest for the Comfest and handed over the elite category of the awards to the recipients. Mr. R K Laxman, Noted Cartoonist, Mr. M V Kamath, Former Chairman, Prasar Bharati were felicitated with the Life Time Achievement Award.
'An Evening with Zelma Lazarus' programme was organized by ABCI on May 7, 2010 at Kilachand Conference Room, 2nd Floor, Indian Merchants Chamber, Churchgate, Mumbai 400020. A special screening of BBC 4 television documentary: 'Lifeline Express, Hospital on Wheels' was held. The screening was attended by Zelma Lazarus, CEO, Impact India Foundation and Gerry Troyna, the film's writer, producer and director.
ComFest 2010 -- One and half day International Convention was held on November 10-11, 2010 followed by 50th Annual Awards Nite of ABCI in the evening of November 11, 2010. Mr. Kumar Ketkar, Editor, Loksatta, was felicitated for Excellence in Business Journalism whereas Mr. Sam Pitroda, Mr. Gerson da'Cunha & Mr. Vasant Sathe, Former I&B Minister, Government of India were felicitated with the Life Time Achievement Award.
ABCI has been recognised as the Best Professional Body for PR & Business Communication in India by the Public Relation Council of India at its National Convention at Chandigarh on Wednesday, 16th March, 2011.
ABCI became the Local Mentor for 20 communication students from the School of Communication, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands who visited India for their study tour. ABCI organised lectures of Veterans of Communications from Banking Industry, NGO, PR Agency, Electronic Media, Chemical Industry and also arranged their visit to Free Press & Mumbai TV Centre. It was for the first time that students from overseas university were under the training of ABCI.
ComFest 11, a One and a half day Seminar on Communication and the 51st Annual Awards Nite was organised on 10th& 11th November, 2011 at the Hotel President, Cuffe Parade. Dr. M. S. Swaminathan, Father of Green Revolution in India was the Chief Guest on this occasion. Mr. Hudson Samarasinghe, Chairman Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation was felicitated in the Elite Category.
Reelected as president
ABCI became the First Indian Professional Body of PR Communication Professionals to get an invite to represent India at the World Communication Forum at Davos, Switzerland. Mr. Yogesh Joshi, President, ABCI, also delivered a speech on Internal & External Mission of the Large Communication Associations. He was accompanied by Mr. Rui Martin, Portugal, who was the Moderator of the Session, Ms Lorena Carreno Diaz, President, Mexican PR Association, Mr. Mark Redgrove, Belgium, Mr. Stanislas Naumov, Russia. The President ABCI was inducted in the Forum Member Speakers Assembly which very rare honour to ABCI and its President.
The ComFest 12 held on Thursday, 18th October, 2012, and Friday, 19th October, 2012, at the Rooftop Rendezvous, Hotel Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, Mumbai, witnessed speakers like Mr. Deepal Jolly, Vice President, CocaCola India, Mr. Maxim Behar, Dr. Kai Rolker, Global Head, Communications, Clariant Limited, Germany, Dr. Narendra Jadhav, Dr. James Gillies, Switzerland, Ms. Yanina Dubeykovskaya, Sir Anthony Good. It was the first ComFest to get International Speakers. The 52nd Annual Awards Nite was organized on Friday, 19th October, 2012, at the Crystal Room, Hotel Taj Mahal Palace & Tower wherein Mr. Manohar Parrikar, the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Government of Goa was the Chief Guest. Mr. S N Surkund & Mr. Deepak Jolly were conferred with the Fellowship of the Brains Trust of ABCI. In the Elite Category, Mr. Deepak Morada, VP, Brands & Communications, L&T was conferred with Communicator of Year, Mr. Maxim Behar, Chairman, Hill & Knowlton Strategies, Prague & Sofia – Communicator of the Decade, Mr. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha, Executive Editor, Mint – Excellence in Business Journalism, Mr. K R Kamath, CMD, Punjab National Bank – Excellence in Financial Communications, Dr. James Gillies, Head of Communications, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, where the God Particle was invented – Global Communicator, Mr. Ajit Balakrishnan, Founder & Chairman, Rediff.com – Strategic Business Communicator, Sir Anthony Good, Founder, Good Relations Limited, London & Global Chairman Cox & Kings – Life Time Achievement Award, Mr. Shyam Benegal, Famous Director of Hindi Films and TV Serials like "Bharat Ek Khoj” based on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s book entitled "Discovery of India” – Life Time Achievement Award. The Chief Guest Mr. Manohar Parrikar was sworn in as the Hon’ble Defence Minister, Government of India on 9th November, 2014
The ComFest 13 was organized on Thursday, 17th October, 2013, and Friday, 18th October, 2013, at the Rooftop Rendezvous, Hotel Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, Mumbai, seen galaxy of speakers from India and abroad. We had Dr. Mrs. Pragnya Ram, President, Communications, Aditya Birla Group, Dr. Mukund Rajen, Group Chief of Communications, Tata Group, Mr. Maxim Behar, Chairman, Hill & Knowlton Strategies, Sofia & Prague, Mr. Luiz Brandao, President, Rio Stock Exchange - Communications, & Yoga Guru, Brazil, Mr. Paola Nasser, President, Brazil PR Association, Ms. Elena Dugina – Russia, Mr. Nikhil Desia, MD, Goa Tourism, Mr. P Manoharan, Director, Malaysian Tourism, Kuala Lumpur, Dr. Matthew Hibberd, UK, Ms. Olga Rink, Russia, Ms. Stefi Deluxe Fussi, Italy, Mr. Gianni Catalfamo, Chairman, Ketchum, Italy, Mr. Sandeep Ghose, CGM In-charge, RBI, Mrs. Roma Balwani, Sir Mark Tully & Lord Timothy Bell, the PR Advisor to Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, the Former Prime Minister of UK, were the speakers on the occasion. The ComFest 13 saw a historical moment when ABCI signed an MoU with the Brazilian PR Association for exchange of Best Practices in-between two organizations. ABCI also celebrated the birthday of Lord Timothy Bell by cutting a cake and opening a bottle of Champagne during the Annual Awards.
The 53rd Annual Awards Nite was organized on Friday, 18th October, 2013,at the Crystal Hall, Hotel Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Mumbai. Mr. Dilip Padgaonkar, Former Editor-in-Chief, Times of India & Chairman, Kashmir Committee of the Government of India was the Chief Guest. Mr. Pradipta Bagchi, VP, Corporate Communications, TCS – Communicator of the Year, Mr. Vivek Law, Editor-in-Charge, Bloomberg TV, Excellence Business Journalism, LIC- Excellence in Brand Communications, Mr. D Sarkar, CMD, Union Bank, Excellence in Financial Communications, Sir Mark Tully, Former Bureau Chief, BBC (India & South Asia) – Life Time Achievement Award, Lord Timothy Bell – PR Adviser to Mrs. Margaret Thatcher – Life Time Achievement Award were felicitated at the hands of Mr. Padgaonkar on this occasion.
ComFest 14 was organized on Friday, 17th October, 2014, at the Hotel President, Cuffe Parade, Mumbai, that featured an event that was a bit different from the rest of the earlier events. The ComFest was based on "Annual Report” as its central theme. Annual Report has been produced in-order to comply with the statutory needs. Hardly a few Indian Companies have realized that a copy of the Annual Report is a powerful instrument for communicating with its stakeholders. With Global Reporting System coming in to existence and playing a challenging role for creating an Annual Report that would be in-line with the global format that has been accepted in the most advanced nations. ABCI, with an aim to raise the bar of its members and also non-member companies, organized ComFest that covered various facets of producing an Annual Report from reporting, designing, technical aspects like selection of paper, printer etc that has given a new dimension to the communication fraternity Mr. Pravin Ujjain took a lead to organise the event. Mr. Mr. Shankar Jagannath & Mr. Shashwat DC, were the other speakers who covered various aspects of production of an Annual Report.
The 54th Annual Awards was organized at the Presidential Ball Room on Friday, 17th October, 2014, wherein Mr. Hemant Nerurkar, Chairman, TRL Krosaki Limited was the Chief Guest & Mr. M R Chandurkar was the Guest of Honour. Mr. Pankaj Mudholkar was felicitated for his contribution to organise Vibrant Gujarat with Communicator of the Decade Awad whereas the Life Time Achievement Award was conferred upon Mr. Ram Mohan, the father of Animation Films in India and Dr. Ram Tarneja, Former MD, Times of India Group.
The 55th Annual Awards were presented on Friday, 16th October, 2015, at the Radio Club, Mumbai. Mr. Mohan V Tanksale, Former CMD, Central Bank of India and Currently Chief Executive, Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), was the Chief Guest. Mo Elite Category Awards were presented as the Hon’ble Jury didn’t agree on any of the nominations received for an Award.
Brand India Summit – Thursday, 27th October, 2016 & Friday, 28th October, 2016, at the Presidential Ball Room, Hotel Vivanta By Taj, Cuffe Parade, Mumbai. The ComFest 16 marked with a different concept. Normally, the theme for ComFest always revolved around topics that would interest a communication professional. However, the President – ABCI, felt that it would merely be a duplication of a theme presented previously. While he also felt that there needs an image/perception correction globally, hence the concept of Brand India Summit emerged. The event came out with flying colours with 24 speakers, 82 Power Brands, 14 CEOs, 9 Executive Directors, 8 Vice Presidents, 25 GMs/DGMs, 23 Agencies & 300+ delegates attending the Two days Summit. Mr. Prakash Javadekar, Union HRD Minister as the Chief Guest, Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, Hon’ble MP(Rajya Sabha) & National Vice President, BJP, as the Guest of Honour, attending the event in the presence of the living legend of Indian Business Circle Mahashay Dharampal Ji, Founder & Chairman, MDH Masala present at the inaugural. This was followed by the speeches of the luminaries like PadmaShree Dr. S Arunan, Director, Mars Orbiter Mission, ISRO, Bangalore, Ms. Sadhana Khera Mittal, DGM, Indian Oil, Mr. Sam Balsara, CMD, Madison World, Mr. Nitish Jain, Chairman, S P Jain School for Global Management, Singapore, Dr. Jon-Hans Coetzer, Chief Academic Officer, Glion Institute of Hospitality Management, Switzerland, Mr. Vikash Mittersain, Chairman, Nazara Technologies, Mr. Adrian Aritmov, Romania, Mr. Bharat Dabholkar, Brand Guru, Dr. A Velumani, Founder & CMD, Thyrocare Technologies Limited, Mr. H R Gaikwad, CMD, BVG Limited, Mr. Pradeep Lokhande, CEO, Rural Relations, Mumbai Ka Dabbawala, overseas guests Ms. Nurul Ashiqin Shamsuri, Malaysia, Mr. Solly Moeng, South Africa, Ms. Iryna Zolotarevich, Ukraine, Mr. Lorenzo Brufani, Italy, Ms. Yanina Dubeykovskaya, Russia, Mr. Zhao Dali, China, Mr. Piyush Pandey, Mr. Naunihal Singh, Mr. Sharat Bhattatiripad, Mr. Maheshwar Sahu, Mr. Sandeep Ganjoo were the speakers. Mr. He Yi, Mr. Wang Rui, All from China attended the event. It was for the first time that representatives from nine (9) different countries were on one platform in a Communications related conference.
The 56th Annual Awards Nite was organized on Friday, 28th October, 2016, at the Hotel Vivanta By Taj, Mumbai where we had Dr. A. Velumani, CMD, Thyrocare Technologies Limited was the Chief Guest. Mr. Saurabh Uboweja, Founder & CEO, Brands of Desire, was conferred with the Promising Business Communicator Award, L&T – Communicator of the Decade, First time a Company and not an individual, Indian Oil – Strategic Business Communications, BSNL – Crisis Communications in the Elite Category Awards.
57th Annual Awards was held at the Crystal Room, Hotel Taj Mahal Palace, on Friday, 22nd December, along with ComFest 17
Ms. Swati Khandelwal Jain with Promising Business Communicator, Mr. Subodh Dakwale, ED, CC, Indian Oil with Communicator of the Year, Mr. Sandip Malvi, Deputy Commissioner, (PR), Thane Municipal Corporation, with Communicator of the Decade, Mr. Prasad Ajgaonkar, For Innovative Communication in Digital Media, L&T for CSR Communication, Mr. Bharat Dabholkar, Noted Brand Consultant & Mr. Zafar Hai, Corporate Film Maker were conferred with the Life Time Achievement Award.