London firm steps in to brand Mumbai

The plan to make Mumbai into an international brand got a boost with a London-based firm Achanchi deciding to hold talks with government officials, corporates and citizen’s groups. The chairman of Bombay First, Narinder Nayar said the company executives will be in the city on Thursday and Friday to discuss plans for the exercise. “Achanchi has done several international branding campaigns for cities. It recently made a presentation before chief minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh and government officials during their visit to London,’’ said Nayar. With globalisation being the mantra today, Nayar said the need for branding Mumbai as an international destination is growing. ‘‘Most large cities in the world, including London, New York, Singapore and Johannesburg have gone through branding exercises,’’ he said. The head of city transformation unit of the All India Institute of Local Self Government, U P S Madan said, “This will be a means for preparing a roadmap for branding the city. So far, Achanchi is doing the exercise on its own,’’ said Madan.