WPP India bounces back to 2.9% growth in Q3 as creative stays the group's soft spot

WPP India has swung back into growth in the third quarter, clocking 2.9% like-for-like growth in revenue less pass-through costs after a 6% decline in Q2. The numbers, part of WPP's Q3 trading update released on October 29, arrive in a quarter where all four of the holding company's regions declined and WPP Creative, its largest business, slipped further.

At the group level, revenue stood at £3,274 million, up 0.5%, while revenue less pass-through costs fell 2.1% like-for-like to £2,411 million. Year to date, the decline stands at 3.9%. WPP has held its full-year guidance, including an operating margin of 12 to 13%. CEO Cindy Rose pitched the quarter as proof that the turnaround is holding. "We are on track to deliver phase one of Elevate28: stabilising our business performance and laying the foundations for a simpler, more unified WPP," she said.

India was WPP's lone bright spot a year ago, posting 6.7% like-for-like growth in Q3 2025, so the current 2.9% reads more like a recovery than a renaissance. The release does not split India's numbers by discipline, so it is unclear how much of the swing came from media, creative or production. What it does show is that APAC fell 4.3%, weighed down by China, which contracted 8.7% after growing 15.6% in Q2. WPP also won the media business of Godrej Consumer Products, the Indian FMCG major, across several international markets.

For the creative fraternity, the sharper signal lies elsewhere. WPP Creative, which contributes 48% of the group's revenue less pass-through costs, declined 5.1% in Q3, worse than the 3.5% dip in Q2, with lower client spending only partly offset by new business ramping up. The damage is centred on the integrated creative agencies, while PR is back to growth and the brand and design shops grew mid-single digits. WPP Media returned to 0.3% growth and WPP Production grew 2.5%, leaving creative as the only division still sliding. CPG, WPP's biggest vertical at 27% of revenue less pass-through costs, fell 6.4%, whereas Automotive and Healthcare & Pharma grew. Rose insisted that demand is intact. "Client demand remains healthy for our AI-enabled media, creative, production and enterprise solutions, powered by our agentic marketing platform WPP Open," she said.

Jon Cook, Global CEO of VML and CEO of WPP Creative, will leave after March 2027, with Tyler Turnbull, currently Global CEO of McCann, set to join as WPP Creative CEO in early 2027. Closer to home, Hephzibah Pathak, CEO of WPP Creative India and executive chairperson of Ogilvy India, is anchoring the unified creative model, with VML India's Babita Baruah, Ogilvy India's VR Rajesh and Burson India's Deepshikha Dharmaraj reporting to her. On the mandates front, WPP renewed its global media partnership with The Coca-Cola Company outside North America, Japan and South Korea and expanded its remit with DoorDash, the US food delivery platform.

The test now is whether creative can follow media and production back to growth before the 'Build' phase of Elevate28 begins in 2027. "We remain focused on disciplined execution as we prepare for the 'Build' phase of Elevate28 and position WPP for a return to growth during 2027," said Rose. For India, 2.9% is a decent start. Sustaining it will depend on how quickly the creative engine turns.