BENGALURU: Sanchayeeta Verma has stepped down as chief executive of Carat India, closing a chapter that transformed the dentsu agency’s standing in the country’s crowded media market.
Verma, who took the helm in July 2023, leaves after what she calls “a marquee period of bold pivots and meaningful impact”. During her tenure Carat almost doubled business performance, integrated creative and customer-experience units under the One-dentsu model, and pushed the network into what she dubbed the “algorithmic era.”
Her leadership brought a flurry of firsts. Carat popularised “attention economy” as a core media metric, built the Brand EQ Index to measure emotional connection, and unveiled the Media++ operating system to give clients data-rich, AI-powered planning tools. She also struck new alliances with e-commerce platforms to unlock what she described as “triple value” for clients, partners and the agency.
“None of us can exist in isolation,” Verma said, quoting her mentor, the philosopher Daisaku Ikeda, as she thanked her teams, media partners and clients. “To be aware of these connections, to feel appreciation for them, and to give back to society in a spirit of gratitude is the proper way for human beings to live.”
A recognised thought-leader and champion of women in leadership, Verma has spent more than 25 years shaping India’s advertising and media landscape. Before joining Carat she logged an 11-year run at Wavemaker, where she turned its south India operations from a loss-maker into a multi-city profit engine—growing media billings 15-fold and revenues six-fold—while later heading the ITC India strategic business unit.
Earlier, she built national communication-planning frameworks at Mindshare, managed key accounts such as GSK and Motorola, and led planning teams at Lowe Lintas and J. Walter Thompson. She began her career in the mid-1990s in product marketing at Kiwi TTK.
Verma, who has also served on advisory boards in education and civic-tech start-ups, has not yet disclosed her next professional move but remains a sought-after mentor and strategist. Dentsu, for its part, praised her “bold vision and collaborative leadership” and wished her well as Carat readies a successor.