Vikram Sakhuja, partner and director at Madison World, has been elected as the new chairman of the Media Research Users Council of India (MRUCI), a not-for-profit that produces research studies and managed the Indian Readership Survey (IRS). Sakhuja was vice chairman of MRUCI since 2024.
The decision was taken at the council’s 31st annual general meeting on 22 September 2025, media reports said.
The board also approved a pilot of the readership survey, beginning with one metro and two states, to restore the credibility of the IRS as a robust readership measurement system. IRS was last conducted in 2019. The absence of a metric to map readers had left advertisers and agencies grappling for factual numbers amid fragmented data and unverified readership claims by news media houses.
MRUCI members
Sakhuja takes over from Shailesh Gupta of Jagran Prakashan, who served two consecutive terms. Dhruba Mukherjee, CEO of ABP, is the new vice chairman. Shashi Sinha, executive chairman of IPG Mediabrands, will now serve as chairman of the IRS Technical Committee, a position previously held by Sakhuja.
According to the reports, MRUCI inducted of four new members to its board of governors – Navaneeth LV, CEO, The Hindu Group; Surinder Chawla, president, Response, BCCL, Shashidhar Sinha, executive chairman, Mediabrands – India; and Upali Nag, president strategy – South Asia, WPP Media.
Gupta was quoted as saying that IRS will begin with a metro and two states. “We are ensuring financial prudence while building operational confidence. The learnings from this phase will guide the nationwide rollout, delivering a robust and credible readership measurement system that the print industry deserves,” he said.
Sakhuja said said he is honored to take on the role of chairman at MRUCI and thanked the board. “Our endeavor is to restore IRS as the gold standard in readership research and the most credible survey in the country.”
The council’s annual report for 2023-24 released last year had said MRUCI management was now in the process of finalizing its decision to revamp the flagship study of IRS.
“Taking into consideration one major factor, i.e ‘Cost’ of the study being the industry concern, the management directed the IRS technical committee to explore different methods/possibilities that lead to deliver the study with optimizing the cost, without compromising on the quality and robustness of the study.
“Thus, in the last couple of months, the technical committee has undergone multiple discussions to come up with a solution that help restart the study as early as possible. The MRUCI management hopes to announce on the re-launch of the IRS study at an early date,” the report seen by Indian Printer and Publisher said.
