MUMBAI: Partho Dasgupta, the first chief executive officer of BARC India, a joint industry company between broadcasters, advertisers and agencies, today announced his plan to relinquish his position and move on.

In a statement he said, “It has been a tremendous journey to setup the worlds largest audience measurement company with the least investment and in the quickest time. Having set it up, expanding the panel and introducing new insight products for news, sports, music and OOH genres, I thought its time to move on and do new things. I have enjoyed setting up new businesses and brands and turning them around both in media and consumer space and its time to explore new domains”. He added “I would like to thank board members and Techcomm members, specially Punit and Shashi for the tremendous support and guidance.”

Sunil Lulla, who brings over 35 years of media and marketing experience and an  industry veteran is being appointed as chief executive officer of BARC. “I am delighted to lead BARC as its grows its footprint, in coverage, scope and services, in the fast growing and rapidly evolving TV and digital industry. Things are changing fast and audience measurement has to keep pace with all these. I thank Partho for bringing the company to where it is and wish him a great time ahead.”

BARC India chairman Punit Goenka, said “I welcome Sunil to BARC. He has been a board member before and is familiar. I would also like to thank Partho for steering BARC through tough times, building a great team and establishing the technology architecture that BARC is proud of. Winner of several awards, BARC India is now considered a benchmark by the global measurement community. We wish him the best for his career ahead.” Speaking on the transition, Punit added “Partho and Sunil are working with the teams for a smooth transition in the weeks to come.”