R P Thakur, ED, Railways & Bharat Rajamani, EY to speak on railway media at OAC 2016

Ministry of Railways, Government of India has opened up a swathe of advertising opportunities across the railway networks. As such, the railway networks handle some of the world’s largest passenger movement and so railway media are powerful advertising medium for brands of all hues. R P Thakur, Executive Director, Non Fare Revenue, Ministry of Railways, Government of India, and Bharat Rajamani, Director & Solution Leader – Marketing and Advertising Risk Services (MARS), EY, will speak about innovative ways to leverage the railway media opportunities in the session on’How Railway media can be leveraged to accelerate Indian OOH growth’ at the upcoming Outdoor Advertising Convention (OAC) that will be held at Hyatt Regency, Gurgaon during June 17-18.

Mr Thakur, an alumnus of St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, joined the Indian Civil Services in 1990. As Director (Passenger Marketing) from 2002-2005 in the Ministry of Railways he was engaged in pioneering initiatives like e-ticketing and Tatkal scheme. He was OSD to Member (Traffic), Ministry of Railways during 2005-2007. 

Mr Thakur joined as Private Secretary to the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Government of India in August, 2007 and continued till May 2009. He then shifted to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, where he took up key initiatives like digitalisation of the Indian cable sector, increase in FDI limits in the broadcasting sector, establishment of self-regulatory bodies in India, liberalisation of TV licensing process, etc.

Mr Thakur took over as the Additional Director General in Doordarshan in December 2012.   He spearheaded initiatives like upgradation of DD DTH platform, upgradation of terrestrial channels into 24×7 cable and satellite channels, handling of the entire Government business for Doordarshan, programme acquisition for Doordarshan, etc.

Mr Thakur has served on the Board of Directors of Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) and Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC). He holds an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management, Indore and has a master’s degree in international trade from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.

Mr Rajamani has more than 23 years of work experience and over 20 years in EY specialising in marketing optimisation reviews covering Marketing Spend Optimization Assessment, Planning & Strategy Reviews, Agency Contract Compliance Reviews, Agency Performance Reviews, Out of Home Planning, Strategy & Implementation Reviews, Assistance in Agency Selection, Creative Production Reviews, Promotion reviews, and Digital reviews.

Mr Rajamani has worked across Asia, South East Asia, Middle East Africa, US & Europe. He actively participates in industry thought leadership initiatives conducted by Indian Society of Advertisers on Media Audits, Return on Marketing Investments & Digitization.