Verdict is clear: Mega merger unlikely to threaten WPP's stupendous lead in India

Globally, Omnicom is the bigger of the two partners; but in India, IPG is at least three times larger than Omnicom, and WPP is double the size of IPG

- ALOKANANDA CHAKRABORTY

THE OMNICOM-INTERPUBLIC COMBINE can topple WPP after becoming the world's largest advertising agency network. But not in India. Globally, Omnicom ($20.2 bn) is the bigger of the two partners ($10.9 bn); but in India, "IPG is at least three times larger than Omnicom, and WPP is double the size of IPG. Together, they will be a credible threat to WPP's dominance but they would still not make it to the No 1 spot," says an industry veteran.

Deals of this scale are never straightforward despite the initial euphoria. Individual agency brands have to compete with each other for clients as their parent firms fight for self-preservation, hamstrung by cost-cutting clients on the one hand and trespassing tech companies on the other.