MxMIndia

Tag: Aroon Purie

  • The day-long conference will conclude with 'India's Best CEO Awards'

    BT Mindrush 2023 to be held today

    By Our Staff

     

    Business Today magazine is conducting BT Mindrush 2023 in Mumbai today.  This year’s discussions will feature a line-up of prominent leaders from the business world, including N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons; Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of Infosys and Ajay Piramal, Chairman of Piramal Group, among others. Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation & Steel, Government of India, will represent the policymakers.

     

    The conference will begin with a session titled ‘The Entrepreneur’s Playbook: Managing Conflict. Grooming the Next-Gen. Innovation,’ by Sougata Ray, Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship (Practice); Chair Professor and Executive Director, Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise, Indian School of Business.

     

    A deep dive conversation on ‘The World as India’s Oyster: The Reshaping of Global Supply Chains. China Plus One. India’s New Fortune. Or Missed Opportunity,’ will feature Praveer Sinha, CEO & MD of Tata Power, Shashi Kiran Shetty, Founder and Chairman, Allcargo Group, S. Suresh, MD of EID Parry, Sajjan Bhajanka, CMD of Century Plyboards, and Parmod Sagar, MD & CEO of RHI Magnesita.

     

    Ajay Piramal, Chairman of Piramal Group, will share his thoughts on “Animal Spirits: The Investment Drought. The Growth Binge. The Skill of the Entrepreneur.”

     

    A session titled Leverage Play: Appetite for Growth, Lure of Easy Debt, Managing Leverage Risks: How India’s Best Corporations Strike the Right Balance will focus on the balance between growth and debt management, featuring insights from Suresh Narayanan, CMD of Nestlé India, T.V. Narendran, CEO and MD of Tata Steel, Suneeta Reddy, MD, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise and Sanjeev Krishan, Chairman of PwC India.

     

    The Business Today Mindrush 2023 will also host Nandan Nilekani, the Chairman of Infosys, who will speak on “The Transformer: National Identity Creator. E-commerce Evangelist. India’s Tech Conscience.” Later in the evening, N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, will share his perspective on “Reinventing Tata: Redirecting the Colossus. Connecting with the Consumer. Successes and Failures.” The session will delve into how Tata Sons navigate the rapidly changing business landscape and build a stronger connection with consumers.

     

    The “The Path to the Trophies” session at the Business Today Mindrush 2023 will explore India’s journey to becoming a global economic power. Vivek Prasad, Leader-Markets at PwC India, will provide insights into the economic factors contributing to India’s growth with a talk on ‘The Path to the Trophies.’

     

    Minister Scindia will speak on the platform to provide a policymaker’s perspective.

     

    The conference will conclude with a special address from Aroon Purie, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India Today Group, followed by the ‘India’s Best CEO Awards’ that is presented in partnership with PwC India.

     

  • … about poverty, social hatred and government incompetence in case some muck falls on you-know-who, writes Ranjona Banerji

    No real stories in the mainstream media!

     

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Ranjona BanerjiWhat makes a great headline story?

    There are so many swirling around that it’s had to choose.

    Like the Khalistan supporter Amritpal Singh who is on the loose?

    Or the conman from Gujarat who pretended to be from the PMO and got all sorts of official benefits including Z plus security and five-star luxury in Kashmir.

    Or the newly-made national highways which have consistently cracked under the pressure of grand inaugurations?

    Or how the wife of a former CM of Maharashtra and current deputy CM of Maharashtra claimed to have been cheated by a designer friend who she let into official homes for many years?

    Or the Invest India CEO who had to resign because of supposed financial hanky-panky?

    Don’t get me wrong. These have been in the news, or else how do we know about them. But they haven’t been THE news.

    Take the Invest India story. This is a government agency, set up to help those who want to invest in India. Its managing director and CEO Deepak Bagla is accused of, well, not doing any work. An audit was begun by the Commerce Ministry a year ago. Bagla has resigned for “personal reasons”, after he and his team apparently had a first class party at the recent World Economic Forum at Davos.

    But please note, the lack of outrage or even leaking of salacious details or even investigation of what went wrong, apart from in the business pages and websites.

    How about Kiran Patel? What courage and cool thinking! Used the PM’s name and officials all over our most sensitive areas opened their hearts and minds and our pockets to him. Patel made three trips to Kashmir, met officials and made them give him reports, until a local district magistrate flagged something as suspicious. Patel was arrested from a five-star hotel.

    This is a story but not THE story.

    Because, how can we?

    THE story could be that the Prime Minister inaugurated a road. THE story is not that the Bengaluru-Mysore expressway got flooded soon after because once Modi has come and gone, the story is over. Some locals just have to deal with it. THE story is now that the PM and the Japanese PM, Fumio Kishida ate “gol-gappe” together. Personally, I’d have given him real Gujarati khandvi and explained it as Indian veg sushi. Tastes much better than Delhi gol-gappe anyway, but that’s just me.

    Anyway. These are our stories. They have within them depths and layers and fun and excitement and shock and horror, all of which would have kept us journalists busy for days.

    We know that we are not going to do the real stories in the mainstream media, about poverty and social hatred and Central incompetence. Now it looks like we cannot even do the scandal-scam stories in case some muck falls on the Great One and subsidiaries around.

    And we know why. This is a tweet from Aroon Purie, once the person who set the gold standard of Indian journalism by his group’s own admission. I have worked with the group and in the old days, it did set a standard.

    But like most of the Indian media which was brave in the past as long as it could oppose a Congress-led government and wear all attacks with pride, we now have a set of groupies sucking up to the Supreme Leader.

    Like the owner of India Today makes clear, all you have to do is connect the dots…

     

    Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.

     

  • In the past, industry leaders like Rajan Anandan, Uday Shankar, Ronnie Screwvalla have delivered keynotes

    Aroon Purie to deliver AAAI Subhas Ghosal Memorial Lecture on Oct 7

    By Our Staff

     

    The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and the Subhas Ghosal Foundation (SGF) are have announced that the Subhas Ghosal Memorial Lecture will return this year with Aroon Purie, Chairman and Editor-In-Chief, India Today Group, as speaker. The event will be held on Friday, October 7 in Mumbai. While talking about his personal and professional experiences, Purie will share many valuable insights which he has gained during his lifetime.

     

    With the support of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), the SFT has been hosting its ‘AAAI Subhas Ghosal Memorial Lecture’ series, for several years, where industry leaders like Rajan Anandan, Uday Shankar, Ronnie Screwvalla have delivered keynotes.

     

    Said Sam Balsara on behalf of SGF: “We live in an age where media and advertising are shaping and also rapidly changing society. It will be interesting to hear Aroon speak about his journey, how he built a media empire, as well as his views on life today and how the media has changed over the years. I believe this lecture will be helpful and enlightening for both immigrants and natives of the advertising and media”.

     

    Ahead of the lecture, Anupriya Acharya, President, AAAI added: “Aroon Purie has been at the forefront of change and innovation in the news business as it transitioned from print to electronic media and then to digital and social media. A recipient of the Padma Bhushan award, his contribution to Indian journalism is exemplary. I am sure that Aroon’s life experiences will be fascinating for the audiences and we look forward to his perspectives at the Subhas Ghosal Memorial Lecture.”

     

  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveils logo and anniversary issue

    Business Today turns 30

    By Our Staff

     

    Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman along with India Today group Chairperson Aroon Purie unveiled Business Today’s 30th Anniversary Special Edition on Tuesday.

     

    Noted a communique: “One of the biggest editions ever of the magazine, the 30th anniversary issue has seven covers, 162 pages of editorial content, and 75 pages of advertisements from across categories like BFSI, IT, Luxury, Education and real estate among others, which include several innovations. On the circulation front, Business Today’s distribution reach has extended to new-age platforms such as Milkbasket, Fresh to Home, Amazon, Flipkart, and non-conventional outlets for magazine sales such as Spencers Retail, Patanjali Mega Mart, milk booths, grocery stores, and super markets. This has not only enabled the magazine sales to revive in the post-pandemic world but also accelerated growth in circulation. As a result, Business Today has already surpassed the pre Covid numbers in terms of circulation by end of January, and with the Anniversary jump of 33 per cent, it has scaled an all-time high.”

     

  • Nominations with all details can be sent to safaigiri@intoday.com or they can be filed on www.safaigiri.in. The last date of filing nominations is September 12, 2020.

    India Today’s Safaigiri Awards to recognise Covid warriors

    By A Correspondent

    The India Today group has announced the sixth edition of the Safaigiri Awards. This year the group will recognise Covid-19 warriors who have been leading the fight against Covid-19 from the front.

    Safaigiri AwardNominations have been invited from individuals/organisations who have contributed and brought about a significant change during this pandemic. The categories for this year are:

    •         Best State in Combating Covid-19
    •         Best Celebrity Contribution in Spreading Awareness
    •         Best Far-Reaching Corporate Contribution for a Wider Social Impact
    •         Best Testing Facility
    •         Best NGO or other Entity that Extended Timely Help to Migrants
    •         Best Innovation for Covid -Related Activity in Times of the Pandemic
    •         Best Logistics Services Provider
    •         Best NGO or Other Entity Offering Healthcare Services
    •         Best Health Manager

    Nominations with all details can be sent to safaigiri@intoday.com or they can be filed on www.safaigiri.in. The last date of filing nominations is September 12, 2020.

    This year’s jury comprises Aroon Purie, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, India Today Group; Anu Aga, Former Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, Businesswoman and Social Worker; Manish Sabharwal, Chairman, TeamLease Services Ltd; Dr Srinath Reddy, President, Public Health Foundation of India; Dr Devi Shetty, Chairman and Founder, Narayana Health; Dr Naresh Trehan, Chairman and Managing Director, Medanta;  Dr Gagandeep Kang, Vaccine Expert and Dr Swati Piramal, Vice Chairperson, Piramal Group

  • The India Today Group-Axis-My-India exit polls have got 33 out of 35 elections bang-on over the last four years, notes a communique

    Axis-My-India gets Exit Poll right for India Today yet again

    By A Correspondent

     

    Screengrab of Pradeep Gupta doing a jig with Rajdeep Sardesai shaking a leg

    We don’t know what’s your view, but for us, the ultimate accolade is when your competition compliments you. On Tuesday evening, while analysing the landslide sweep of Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party in the Delhi Assembly elections, first former psephologist Yogendra Yadav saluted pollsters Axis-My-India for getting the Delhi numbers right yet again, and then NDTV founder Dr Prannoy Roy was very generous in his praise for India Today group Chairman and Managing Director Aroon Purie for his guts for letting the Axis-My-India folks to give the far-out numbers and not interfere (in carrying them as is). There was of course a nice laugh about the jig that Axis Founder and Chief Pradeep Gupta and India Today Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai did on air which has been doing the viral.

     

    According to the information we have received, the India Today Group-Axis-My-India exit polls have got 33 out of 35 elections bang-on over the last four years. Yadav specifically hailed the polling agency for its Haryana poll results late last year. For Delhi, the exit poll aired on India Today anticipated the Aam Aadmi Party’s sweep in the February 8 vote, giving it between 59 and 68 seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly. Its nearest rival, the BJP and its allies, were projected to get 2 to 11 seats and the Congress none. By Tuesday evening, the predictions turned out to be pretty accurate, with the AAP securing 62, the BJP 8 and the Congress knocked out for a duck.

     

    Noted a communique: “In Delhi the pollsters measured voting behaviours, preferences and predispositions of the city’s diverse demography. Like a thorough statistical exercise, the survey delved deeper into the voters’ educational background, economic conditions, work, age-groups, caste, and religious affiliations. Since 2013, Axis My India has conducted 40 post-poll surveys, of which 38 have been spot on. Since their association with India Today in 2016, the pollsters have predicted 35 elections, of which 33 turned out to be accurate.:

     

    Said Kalli Purie, Vice Chairperson, India Today Group: “Every time we get a poll right the stakes get higher. This was our fifthy poll bang-on. The trust put in us by our viewers is a big responsibility and makes us work harder (and gives us many sleepless nights!). People keep asking me what’s the secret sauce that even your bitterest competitor quote and copy your poll. The answer is simple. We wear glasses with no colour when we look at data. Data is always neutral. The partnership of the best data input from Axis and serious ground reporting from our team before every election has made this incredible feat possible. Having an unparalleled platform with the combined muscle of broadcast, digital and social also helps a little‼”

     

    Added Gupta while attributing his successful predictions to team work and scientific monitoring of voter behaviour: “We follow international best practices. Our methodology is highly refined that helps us eliminate margins of error,” adding: “Our sampling is the most demographically and politically representative in any given election. There’s zero tolerance for any compromise on quality. That’s perhaps the reason why the Harvard Business School is doing a case study on Axis-My-India for the GE 2019 predictions.”

     

     

  • Aaj Tak HD is the first HD Hindi News Channel launched by India Today Group

    Aaj Tak goes HD

    By A Correspondent

    Leading Hindi news channel Aaj Tak has announced the launch of an HD news channel called Aaj Tak HD. Said Aroon Purie, Chairman and Editor in Chief, India Today Group, on the launch: “Time and Information are the real currencies of this digital age. We have created Aaj Tak HD to give the viewer the best value on both these counts.  Aaj Tak HD has been designed in a way that there will be smaller ad breaks and much more news content than you will find anywhere else.  Let me assure you that Aaj Tak HD is not just about High Definition audio-video. This is about High Definition content and more of it.  As a market leader with Aaj Tak, we have always been Sabse Tez, and now with Aaj Tak HD we won’t be just Sabse Tez but also Sabse Zyada.”

    According to a communique, the channel which launched at around 2pm today (December 14), will feature special features on business, Bollywood and international News.  Aaj Tak HD will be offered exclusively on Tata Sky (Channel Number 508) in India initially, and eventually will become available on other platforms.

    Added Kalli Purie, Vice Chairperson, India Today Group: “Your trust in Aaj Tak has grown year over year. It is our responsibility therefore to always be Sabse Tez… And also to always keep you ahead. Aaj Tak HD will keep you ahead on the technology curve and will service the entire spectrum of your interests including special features on International Content, Business and Bollywood. We hope you like our new offering, ‘Sabse Tez Sabse Zyada”. While the Standard Definition variant has been topping the ratings chart, with the HD variant, Aaj Tak will target the affluent set of viewers.

  • The new changes will enhance the magazine's core values of clarity, credibility and relevance and provide insights, knowledge and perspectives on a range of issues

    India Today Group revamps flagship mag India Today

    By A Correspondent

     

    India Today Group is re-launching its 41-year-old flagship English news magazine India Today in a completely new avatar.

     

    The new changes – effective the issue that will be out today (Jan 27) – will enhance the magazine’s core values of clarity, credibility and relevance and provide insights, knowledge and perspectives on a range of contemporary issues to its readers, notes a communique.

     

    Commenting on the reinvention of the magazine, Aroon Purie, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, India Today Group, said, “We live in a time where we are flooded with news 24×7 about anyone, anywhere, anytime. But it remains important to know what is significant and what is the truth. In all the noise that surrounds us, truth has become an endangered species. India Today magazine has always striven to get you the truth without any agenda, and an understanding of contemporary issues that really matters.”

     

  • The cricketing legend teams up with Aaj Tak & Headlines Today to cheer for India, this World Cup

    Sachin makes his presence felt at Cricket World Cup 2015

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sachin Tendulkar, the cricketing legend is back, exclusively on Aaj Tak and Headlines Today all through the World Cup 2015 coverage.

     

    Commenting on Sachin’s association, Aroon Purie, Chairperson and Editor in Chief, India Today Group, said “He is the master who redefined the sport for the world’s most passionate Cricketing nation. A World Cup without him is nothing but unimaginable. His presence on the shows will help fill the void in cricket since his last match. It is an honour for the group to have the legend himself on our channels.”

     

    Commenting on his association, Sachin Tendulkar said “The shows that I will be doing on Aaj Tak and Headlines Today are quite impressive and interesting. This is the first time that I am doing something of this sort and it will be a completely new experience for me. What makes this all the more special, is the fact that, I will get to share my experience of the last 6 world cups with the youngsters, cricketers and budding talent. Obviously World Cup 2015 is going to be a lot more competitive and important. The rules having changed, and with 20 -20 changing the norm in cricket, new and innovative batting styles are coming to the fore. We have discussed these and more in the programmes and am really excited that we could do so many shows of this kind. Most importantly, I would like to wish the very best to Team India to win the world cup. Along with the Aaj Tak and Headlines Today teams, the whole nation is with Team India.”

     

    For the first time Sachin will also interact with the audience directly on the shows and take questions. The legend, who has given 25 years of his life to cricket, is taking care of his team but from a different pitch. His presence will ensure that the World Cup 2015 will only be bigger, better and more inspiring.

     

  • The PM's 100 days in office is all over the mass & social media. A view by Ranjona Banerji on how our media has treated (and been treated by) the new regime

    Modi in the Media

     

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    100 days is now a media mantra when it comes to anything at all. Should one go as far to say that this has something to do with the title of a book written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez? Probably not. So we have to assess 100 days of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre. Not three months (which would be around 90 days) and not 200 days but perhaps we’ll re-assess the government at 365 days and call it one year?

    I put “100 days Modi government” into Google and got stories headlined around that theme, in order, from IBNLive, DNA, Indian Express, LiveMint, India Today, Hindustan Times, NDTV, Zee News, Times of India and Economic Times. So much for originality…

    Having decided to play “follow the leader” on the 100 days theme however it has to be admitted that all media outlets did not take the same line. Some gushed, some focused on the misses, some talked about hits and misses both, some spoke to the Opposition.

    The biggest takeaway from all this seems to be that Modi has made his ministers accountable. According to a fascinating story carried in Niticentral, a rightwing website, this has been achieved by spying on his own ministers.  http://www.niticentral.com/2014/08/25/narendra-modi-enforces-tough-discipline-among-ministers-236467.html.

    So the100 days theme runs like this: Modi has cut through plenty of slack, he has improved systems by making sure his own ministers work, he has travelled to many countries, he has not spoken enough, he has not made good on several other promises, some of the benefits accrued to his government come from UPA policies, he has renamed certain existing schemes, he has made an Independence Day speech, he has fed fish in Japan, he has stopped his party people from talking too much, he has stopped his ministers from speaking almost completely, he has got rid of several governors, he has sidelined the old-timers in the BJP, he has made his right-hand man Amit Shah party president…

    How much of this is remarkable and how much is pedestrian perhaps lies in the eyes of the believer. As TV news tries to jump from issue to manufactured outrage and print sprints to keep pace, we see a fractured image. There is a larger-than-life Modi in carefully posed pictures in foreign lands, we have a Modi who promises security for women and toilets for all, we have a Modi who says everyone must have a bank account.

    We have a BJP which launches a campaign in Uttar Pradesh claiming that hordes of Muslim men are conspiring to make Hindu women fall in love with them to convert them to Islam and thus increase the number of Muslims in the nation. We have BJP-run state governments and the Union HRD ministry trying to manipulate history. We have local BJP units and BJP allies pushing for India as a “Hindu” state. We have the RSS jumping in and claiming credit for Modi’s victory.

    And we have a media which is unable to put all these refracted elements together. So Gaurav Sawant of Headlines Today and a reporter from CNN-IBN got to Japan and behaved like no one has ever been to Japan before. They make ridiculously banal comments about Japanese trains, they comment on cleanliness. They say: “Look at these Japanese people sitting silently on a train.” “When will India ever have such clean stations?”

    What is this? A delegation of idiots goes to Japan? Where is Mark Twain when you need him? The tenuous connection is the promise of a bullet train in India made by Modi. The obsequious brainlessness of some TV journalists and presumably their editors will be part of an ignominious chapter in the history of Indian journalism.

    P S:

    Meanwhile, scroll.in tells us that Shekhar Gupta is no longer vice-chairman of the India Today group. He is now an “advisor”. This is a mere two months after he took over, having ended a long stint at The Indian Express.

    What gives at India Today? Is it family matters or recalcitrant employees? MJ Akbar didn’t last too long, Siddharth Vardarajan didn’t get further than signing a contract and Gupta is out in two months…

    http://scroll.in/article/shekhar-guptas-return-to-india-today-group-ends-in-two-months-to-take-advisory-position/?id=677005

     

  • Get someone junior to do the leg work because you're so busy being a celebrity, obviously you don't have the time to do it yourself

    Plagiarism… a common affliction with senior journalists

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    “I apologise unreservedly,” said Fareed Zakaria’s most recent tweet on August 10. And here’s the statement attached:

    “Media reporters have pointed out that paragraphs in my Time column on gun control, which was also a topic of conversation on this blog, bear close similarities to paragraphs in Jill Lepore’s essay in the April 23rd issue of The New Yorker. They are right. I made a terrible mistake. It is a serious lapse and one that is entirely my fault. I apologize unreservedly to her, to my editors at Time and CNN, and to my readers and viewers everywhere.”

     

    This is how Zakaria describes himself on twitter: “Editor at TIME Magazine. Host of CNN’s GPS: Sunday @ 10am and 1pm ET in the U.S. Blogger at CNN.com/GPS.

    New York, NY”.

     

    Now he stands suspended from all his jobs, for at least one month pending investigation.

     

    The odd thing is, Zakaria need not have picked up those bits from Lepore’s article and passed them off as his own. He could have given her due credit, which would have been the right and honourable thing to do. He could have read as much as he could on the subject and drawn his own conclusions. He could have used facts from a variety of sources and made an argument based on that. But why pass off a few paragraphs from someone else’s work as your own?

     

    Sadly, this is a common affliction with senior journalists. Get someone junior to do the leg work because you’re so busy being a celebrity, obviously you don’t have the time to do it yourself. That obviously means that you don’t have the time to check either. Throw your opinion together, safe in the feeling that your name will carry you through.

     

    Or, it could be that you did the Google search yourself…

     

    Either way, there are no excuses which is why Zakaria hasn’t made any.

     

    Throw your mind back to almost two years ago when huge chunks of Aroon Purie’s publisher’s note in India Today was picked up from a column in Slate magazine. Purie apologised, but obviously, since he owned the magazine, nothing more could be done. Also, it turned out that he didn’t realise that the “research” sent to him by his employees (senior journalists though they may have been) was not written by them but by someone else.

     

    The funny thing is that these are rookie lapses, which come from arrogance, laziness and carelessness. This is not the work of a scientist trying to get published in some respected journal or a PhD student trying to finish a thesis – not that cheating is justified – who thinks they have just one chance to make it. What are the stakes involved for a columnist who writes regularly? Your whole reputation is built on those daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly words you come up with. Imagine throwing it away in this sloppy manner?

     

    Unfortunately for Zakaria, this puts all his work under the scanner. Trust is so ephemeral.

     

    The odd thing is, one suspects this kind of plagiarism is possibly far more common than this. Stupidity is after all universal. Common sense is not.

     

    Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator based in Mumbai. She is Contributing Editor, MxMIndia. The views expressed here are her own. Twitter: @ranjona

     

  • More than the possibility of business empires exerting pressure after investing in the media, the worry is when the situation reaches oligopolistic proportions, writes Pradyuman Maheshwari

    Why media purists needn’t worry about Kumar Mangalam Birla’s 27.5 % in Living Media

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    On April 10, the TV Today network clarified to the Bombay Stock Exchange on rumours that the Aditya Birla group was acquiring a stake in the India Today group. The clarification said the Company (TV Today) was not aware of any such transaction and was not in a position to confirm the contents of the media reports.

     

    A little over a month later, the same organization sent the BSE a copy of the press release stating that 27.5 per cent of Living Media India, better known as the India Today group, was sold to the Aditya Birla group.

     

    A senior member of the AV Birla group told this correspondent that the investment was made by chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla on a personal level and not by any of the group companies.  After the customary approvals in a few months, we would get to know the real numbers. Late on Friday, Ashish Bagga, recently appointed CEO of the entire group (including TV Today), informed staff of the development by way of an email.

     

    The question which everyone wants to know is the price that Mr Birla paid for the 27.5%. There have been various figures floating around… that the money paid is in the region of Rs 350-500 crore. In the communique issued, Mr Birla is quoted saying: “The media sector is a sunrise sector from an investment point of view. I believe that Living Media India offers one of the best opportunities for growth and value creation.”

     

    Also read:

    AV Birla group buys 27.5% in India Today group

     

    Birla may use personal money for buy, Mail Today may now launch editions in Mumbai, other metros

     

    Loss of plurality is worrying: Paranjoy Guha Thakurta

    And here’s what Aroon Purie, chairman of the India Today group said: “I am delighted to partner with the Aditya Birla group to aggressively address the current and future potential of the Indian media business which is at a tipping point. The Aditya Birla group with its strong leadership global footprint, diversified business interests and its shared values of integrity, commitment and social responsibility make it a perfect fit with the India Today group.”

     

    So where’s the money going to be used? For one, it would mean expanding its current businesses. Specifically, Mail Today to move to markets like Mumbai and other cities and for TV Today to get into the regional space, and possibly a business channel. With a question mark on overall growth of newsmagazines, Living Media needs to invest its resources on segments with a growth potential.

     

    It has already done so by investing in smaller, niche magazines which have a smaller print run and attract fair amount of advertising as also bringing in international content.

     

    The TV Today network has also been in pressure in recent months with competition gaining ground. The radio station -Oye 104.8 – also needs to grow on the ratings roster.

     

    And what does it mean for the industry? Although a 27.5% equity will give Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla a toehold in media, it’s not significant enough for him to wrest editorial control. However, while there is fear of how big business money may impact the media, the fact is that it is already doing so. Even today, there exist managements and editors which buckle under pressure from large advertisers and influential individuals. There are enough stories of vested interests at play in Indian journalism, and for the media as a whole, the infusion of money from big business houses and foreign players could possibly ensure better salaries and hence lesser corruption. Standards of journalism are bound to improve.

     

    Also, it’s not that business empires haven’t been in the media already. The KK Birla group runs Hindustan Times, the Tatas would own the Indian title of Reader’s Digest until it sold to Living Media and there are other smaller players too who are known to back media players. Zee TV’s Subhash Chandra has a successful enterprise running under the Essel brand and even The Times of India group’s Jains have had long-standing interests in other fields.

     

    Since the media needs to increase scale, it needs the money for expansion. A route followed by some groups like Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar and Deccan Chronicle has been to go public. Still others – like Network 18 and Television 18 – have been public and also secured investment. Last year, the Abhey Oswal group bought 14.17% in NDTV.

     

    The Reliance Anil Ambani group has significant presence in the media with radio and television. It has also acquired a majority stake in business channel Bloomberg UTV. Just yesterday (Sunday, May 22), one saw a programme airing consumer complaints with a subscribers’s peeve against Reliance Communications. So it’s not that Bloomberg UTV blanks out all criticism of Reliance ADAG activities.

     

    According to me, more than the possibility of business empires exerting pressure after investing in the media, the worry is when the situation reaches oligopolistic proportions. This has in fact been seen with media groups having a stake in allied business like radio, television and events.

     

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