Diwan Arun Nanda, the co-founder of advertising agency Rediffusion and one of the most influential figures in Indian advertising, has passed away on September 6, 2025, at the age of 76.
Along with Ajit Balakrishnan and Mohammed Khan, Nanda had set up Rediffusion in 1973. The agency has gone on to create some of India’s most memorable campaigns for brands such as Airtel, Maruti Suzuki, and Colgate.
Nanda had stepped down as chairperson of Rediffusion in 2023 after leading the agency for five decades. The role was taken over by Sandeep Goyal, who continues as chairperson and managing director of the group.
“Rediffusion’s 50 years has been a dream run. I enjoyed every moment of the very many hundreds of client interactions, the strategy sessions, the creating of the campaigns and the launching of the brands … at the Board level I must thank Ajit Balakrishnan, Suresh Talwar and Sunil Phataphekar, my co-directors for years, for their sage advice always and support to me as chairman,” Nanda had said when he stepped down, as per media reports.
Nanda was the first-ever gold medallist from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and was among the earliest management trainees at Hindustan Levers (now Hindustan Unilever). He is credited with creating the famous lightning-strike mnemonic for Rin detergent.
Over the years, he had also served as a two-time president of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award in the early 2000s. Beyond advertising, he had been on the boards of Air India, Eveready, Kingfisher Airlines, Yes Bank and several other companies.
Between 1983 and 1991, Nanda had been Advisor to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He was also Chairman of Dentsu Young & Rubicam, the Asian joint venture between the two global advertising networks.
