Public Relations in India as a profession is getting popular at an amazing rate. Different brands, big, moderate or small are understanding the importance of Public Relations and what the service can do to impact your brand in a huge way. However, the awareness and understanding about Public Relations in India is still not very clear to common people. But, Public Relations in our country is not new.

Table of Contents

• What are the lessons of PR taken from the Hindu mythology in India?
• How was PR used during the British Raj?
• How did the age-old brands make use of PR post independence?
• How did the birth of PR firms happen during mid-60s?
• Was PR at its peak during 90s with global PR firms settling in India?
• How has the PR industry change after 2000s?

Growth of public relations in India.

Phase one – Growth of public relations in India began since the mythological era where we get the example of how Narad Muni who is present in both the epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata helped rules in communicating with each other, advised and counseled them to do what is wrong or write for them and took the responsibility of keeping peace and prosperity among the subjects of the kingdoms. Bhadra in Ramayana and Krishna in Mahabharata acted as public relations managers to Ram and Arjuna respectively. Both of them were advisors to their subsidiaries and they did a very good job of communicating the needful between various parties which is exactly what a public relations professional does. In fact, in Indian medieval history, Gautam Buddha, Guru AZSNanak and Chanakya were known to be great communicators.

This was the very early part that gave the essence of the profession. It was in 1914 when the British Government which acted as the Government of India then set up a public relations board known as the Central Publicity Board. The board was established as a link between the Government and the Press where any message which interests both the entities could be communicated directly.

With time as several companies started rearing their heads in India and set up their bases, they understood how important the role of communications is. The first giant company to set up Public relations in India in 1943 was the Tatas. Although it is known as the first company to have a PR department, it was more like a communication messaging and information department. Public Relations and the activities associated with it began properly with PSUs like BHEL, ONGC, Bhilai Steel Plant etc.

After this, the growth of Public Relations in India as a profession took up speed and newer things started following.

The second phase on the growth of Public Relations in India started after independence when in 1958 the Public Relations Society of India (PRSI) was established in Bombay under the leadership of Kali H. Mody (Known as Father of Public Relations). Soon after, in 1960, the first conference of PRSI was held in Calcutta and the Public Relations Society of India, Kolkata chapter was established. But in spite of all these conferences taking place in different parts of India, people were not at all clear about the job role of a PR person. Rather, people started talking about how PR professionals were a similar breed like lobbyists and that they serve no purpose in a company. Thus, a conference was held in 1968 in New Delhi where all the concerns that different people and stakeholders had for the profession of public relations were taken into consideration and addressed. This set the tone for the next Public Relations conferences that followed in the later years.

Came the early 90s and the need for public relations were understood by people more. People started understanding the importance of not only communicating a certain message or information but also the significance of making that message effective, relevant and impactful to the consumers. Advertising and marketing firms started realizing that it’s only a matter of time before big brands and companies start asking only for PR services and maybe chuck advertising and marketing. In the 1980s, some foreign firms like Ogilvy PR set base in India. In 1993, Genesis PR, the first ever Indian PR firm was established by a lady named Prema Sagar. Not only that, but firms like Ad Factors who specialized in providing IPO services also started offering PR services along with their IPO specialization. During the same time, foreign PR firms like Edelman which was an independent firm by itself and MSL under the holding group of Publicis entered India. The 90s are known to be the golden time for Public Relations.

2002 saw the growth of specialist agencies like Blue Lotus Communications who offered specialization services in sectors like healthcare, consumer, technology etc. In 2001, all the top seven like-minded PR firms namely Genesis Burson Marsteller (now Genesis BCW), Hanmer MSL (Now MSL), Weber Shandwick, Text 100 (now Archetype), Good Relations India, Ogilvy PR, 20:20 Media (now MSL 20:20) formed the Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI).

Since then, the fortune wheel of Public Relations in India hasn’t stopped turning. Currently, it is one of the very few industries that is growing at a tremendous rate. According to Holmes Report, the PR industry was the only industry which saw a double-digit growth of 18% in the last year. This account is a rough of the chronological growth of Public Relations in India and it can be hoped the journey goes on.

Quick snap short on the History of Public Relations

–Baishali Banerjee 

Baishali Banerjee was a part of the Class of 2020 of PG Programme in PR and Corporate Communications at SCoRe, Mumbai.

She is from Kolkata. She did her graduation in Media Science with a specialization in Public Relations and Advertising from NSHM Knowledge Campus, Kolkata. She has always been curious about the corporate world and how all these huge brands function and connect with their consumers on a day to day basis. She interned with Ketchum Sampark for a period of three months under the Brands & Lifestyle team. This experience made her more curious about the PR fraternity. Also, she is a person very open to learning and her interests lie in corporate, entertainment and lifestyle.
She can be reached at @baishalibanerj5 on Twitter and as Baishali Banerjee on LinkedIn