AdParlor closes down Indian offices and moves staffs

Digital consultancy AdParlor has restructured its South Asian operation after shutting down offices in India.

The global firm previously had two bases in Delhi and Mumbai to service its telecommunications clients Airtel and the Axiata owned-Robi and Dialog.

However, in a bid to bring a ” localised presence” to the telcos’ South Asian markets, AdParlor has now decentralised its India hub and moved operations out into Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The Indian office have since been removed from the company’s website, while the new bases have still to be added at the time of publication.

According to AdParlor Asia chief executive officer Matt Sutton, all 10 staff from India have either been redeployed to the new markets or will stay to maintain unspecified “shared services”.

A spokesman for AdParlor added: “AdParlor Asia Pacific confirms that the organisation has decentralised its operations from India to South Asia – with localised presence in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh now set up in order to service our clients in as seamless a manner as possible, bringing our teams closer to our clients’ businesses in those markets.

“The South Asian operations were previously set-up in India to support our clients in those neighbouring countries. We will be investing further in those markets throughout 2018.

“The talent and expertise we have in the market will be redeployed within the AdParlor Asia Pacific business in the South East Asian region, whilst shared services will continue to be managed out of India. We are also committed to investing in these markets and are nurturing digital talent there with an open headcount of 30.”

AdParlor’s parent company AdKnowledge has been part of a joint venture with the Malaysian telco giant Axiata in Asia since 2016.

A year ago, Axiata completed a major merger with the Indian-based Bharti in Bangladesh, bringing AdParlor’s three clients together under one umbrella in the market.

According to Sutton, the Asia operation currently has a 30-strong “open headcount” and is growing across the region.

However, last year, following the departure of AdKnowledge’s chief revenue officer Damien Lavin, the company also said it had an “open headcount” of 45 people across the markets.

Currently, the company has offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines and Taiwan.