• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, June 4, 2013

Tokyo-based Dentsu has agreed to purchase an 80% stake in New Delhi-based digital agency Webchutney, the companies have confirmed. For Dentsu, it’s the second Indian agency the firm has purchased in less than a year -- a signal that the region’s projected growth is continuing to attract holding company investments there.

Dentsu said Webchutney would become part of the Dentsu India Group of companies that operates within the Dentsu Aegis Network. DAN oversees the company’s businesses outside of Japan. The India Group also includes digital shop Taproot, which was acquired last August.

In its latest ad-spending forecast, ZenithOptimedia identifies India as one of the world’s faster-growing markets and names it as a top-10 contributor to global expenditure growth over the next few years. Between 2012 and 2015, ZO predicts the country will add $1.5 billion in new growth.

Terms of the Webchutney purchase were not disclosed, but the agency’s annual revenue is estimated at about $3 million. The firm employs a staff of nearly 200 and has branch offices in Mumbai and Bangalore.

In a blog entry on the agency’s site confirming the deal, co-founder Sidharth Rao stated: “I’m insanely overjoyed and totally blissed out about this acquisition. It feels like the last 10 years have been building up to today, and we really couldn’t have found a better partner for obsessively shaping the digital industry in India.”

Other holding companies have been aggressively building their India agency asset portfolios, as well. In April, Interpublic Group’s McCann World Group bought database and direct marketing firm End to End Marketing Solutions, based in Bangalore. Earlier this year, IPG Mediabrands bought digital shop Interactive Avenues, with offices in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi.

Publicis Groupe has also been active in the market, acquiring five agencies in the last year, the most recent being Mumbai-based digital firm Convonix.