Anthony B.M. Good, OBE, founder of Good Relations India (GRI) and one of the earliest champions of Indo-British corporate collaboration, passed away yesterday at the age of 92. A journalist-turned-communications strategist, his career spanned continents, industries and decades, shaping not just PR practice in India but also the business dialogue between the UK and India.
Good established GRI in 1988, at a time when India’s PR sector was still in its infancy. His model, which married cultural intelligence with business strategy, positioned GRI as one of the country’s first independent PR consultancies.
For over three decades, the agency became a bridge for global brands entering India, offering what Good once described as ‘communication built on understanding before persuasion.’
A British national with deep roots in India, Good began his career as a journalist with the BBC in Afghanistan before moving into communications and business development. His professional journey soon evolved into one that shaped cross-border commerce. As founder and executive chairman of GRI and later global chairman of Cox & Kings, he was known for combining diplomacy with pragmatism.
In recognition of his efforts to strengthen business ties between the UK and India, Good was appointed Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2014 Honours List. The citation credited him with facilitating several British companies’ entry into India. Receiving the honour from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace, he represented a generation of professionals who saw India not as a frontier market but as a partner in growth.
Over the years, he played an instrumental role in bringing some of the world’s most recognisable brands to India. He helped Marks & Spencer establish its joint venture with Reliance Industries, steered partnerships between United Distillers and United Breweries, and later between Scottish & Newcastle Breweries PLC and the same Indian conglomerate. He was also involved in Sun Life’s joint venture with the Birla Group, and served as a board member of the UK India Business Council (UKIBC).
“Tony Good’s contribution to Britain through his India initiatives has been immense,” noted a 2014 UKIBC statement, which described him as “a catalyst for sustainable business relationships.”
Under his leadership, GRI became a well-known consultancy for market-entry and positioning strategies. It worked with a roster of Fortune 500 clients and international institutions, including Apple, Barclays, Bloomberg, Cartier, CNBC, Suzlon, The United Nations, and Virgin Atlantic, as well as various governments and educational boards.
GRI’s footprint extended beyond traditional corporate communications. Over the last two decades, the consultancy carved a niche in education communications, advising universities and governments on how to attract Indian students and build long-term academic ties. Through partnerships with leading Indian universities and destination campaigns for international study boards, GRI influenced student mobility and scholarship initiatives.
As the firm stated, “We have established partnerships with top Indian universities, helped study boards achieve government funding and led impactful study destination campaigns. Through impactful storytelling, we have influenced Indian students’ decision of the university and country they chose to study at.”
Good’s influence also extended to the institutional structure of India’s PR industry. GRI was a founder member of the Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI), which formalised industry standards and ethics in the early 1990s. The company’s early case studies are now taught in communications programmes across Indian universities, a nod to its formative role in the sector’s evolution.
While Good’s professional achievements are well-documented, peers and colleagues often remembered him for his intellect and generosity. Some people in the industry described him as “a man of immense kindness, good humour, curiosity, and joy,” traits that made him as approachable as he was respected. An avid reader, Good reportedly began each day with seven newspapers—an old-school habit that reflected his lifelong appetite for knowledge.
In an industry that prizes agility, his legacy lies in something more enduring: the principle that effective communication must first respect its audience. His approach anticipated the rise of cultural intelligence in branding long before it became a buzzword. By the time multinational corporations began looking seriously at India as a growth market in the 1990s, GRI had already established a playbook that combined global vision with local nuance.
As India’s PR and communications landscape matured—with digital platforms, influencer ecosystems and AI-driven analytics reshaping practice—Good’s foundational philosophy still holds relevance. His emphasis on ethics, credibility and cross-cultural understanding remains central to how reputation is built and sustained across borders.
Anthony B.M. Good leaves behind not only a company but also an ethos that bridged two worlds—the rigour of British communications and the complexity of Indian enterprise. His work served as an early reminder that globalisation in business communication is as much about empathy as it is about expertise.
In the words of a GRI spokesperson, “The principles Mr Good ingrained in the company and the innumerable experts he motivated throughout the sector are testaments to his legacy.”
For India’s communications fraternity, Good’s passing marks the end of an era when public relations was less about amplification and more about understanding—a time when trust and cultural fluency were the most valuable currencies in the business of persuasion.
