MAM
Mohit Hira appointed as IBT Media President & Country Head of India
MUMBAI: IBT Media India has appointed Mohit Hira as President & Country Head of its India operations.
IBT Media’s Indian edition (www.ibtimes.co.in) is headquarted in Bengaluru and led by Chandra Mohan, Managing Director, has been operational since 2011.
“Hira’s mandate is to create a brand out of a well-built product with market-facing initiatives and content reinforcement” added Mohan. The site claims that it is engineered by IB Times’ global team, and has seen rapid growth in recent years. It is also well supported by advertisers. Apart from business news, technology, entertainment, sports and politics from India and the world constitute the news lineup in the India edition.
IB Times MD Dev Pragad said, “We were very impressed by Mohit’s deep understanding of digital publishing. His background from advertising to publishing puts him in the perfect position to take IBT Media in India to the next level. We look forward to working very closely with him”.
“IB Times presents a unique opportunity to take a popular digital destination to the next level. In my interactions with Dev and Mohan, their infectious start-up attitude convinced me of the opportunity to leverage my experience. The website is rich in content and is engineered for on-the-go readers who need credible updates on business news through the day. Now it’s time to turn it into a consumer-facing brand and socialise it,” said Mohit Hira.
In his last assignment, Mohit Hira was Chief Executive & Publisher of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka owned Open Media Network which publishes Open Magazine. Hira was also responsible for re launching Open’s website, strengthening its sales team and repositioning the brand.Before joining Open, he was CEO at Hungama Digital Services (HDS) and Digital Head at J. Walter Thompson India, as well as Regional Business Head on the Airtel account. Hira had joined JWT from NIIT, where he was President of its B2C global online learning business that he had started. He was also the Chief Marketing Officer for NIIT’s retail individual training businesses and helped in the founding years of the NIIT University.
As Director-Times Internet Ltd where he was the brand custodian for the group’s website, www.indiatimes.com, he was responsible for incubation, marketing and usability of its portals.Before this, he was the Brand Head of The Economic Times (Delhi) and Navbharat Times at Bennett Coleman. Originally, a copywriter at Contract Advertising’s Kolkata office, Mohit Hira grew to take charge first as Creative Director and then the head of its Kolkata and Delhi offices.
An English (Hons.) graduate of Jadavpur University, Kolkata, Mohit is also an alumnus of Executive Development Programmes at ISB Hyderabad, IIM Ahmedabad and INSEAD Singapore where he was nominated to the Google Academy.
He will continue to be based in Delhi NCR and will work closely with the India and EMEA Managing Directors of IB Times.
Brands
Axis Bank named Official Banking Partner of DP World PGTI
Partnership supports all tournaments this season to grow professional golf in India.
MUMBAI: Axis Bank just teed up a hole-in-one partnership because when a bank sponsors golf’s biggest swing in India, even the fairways feel more financially secure. Axis Bank has been appointed Official Banking Partner of the DP World Professional Golf Tour of India (DP World PGTI), strengthening its commitment to sporting excellence and community engagement while backing the growth of professional golf across the country.
Under the partnership, Axis Bank will support all DP World PGTI tournaments this season, contributing to talent development, enhanced tournament experiences and wider fan engagement. The collaboration aligns the bank’s values of precision, discipline and trust with the Tour’s focus on performance and opportunity.
Axis Bank executive director Munish Sharda said, “We are pleased to partner with DP World PGTI as its Official Banking Partner. Golf embodies precision, discipline, and a pursuit of excellence qualities that strongly reflect who we are at Axis Bank. This association also strengthens our engagement with India’s growing premium customer segments, where the sport has a deep and enduring connect.”
Professional Golf Tour of India president Kapil Dev said, “We are extremely pleased to welcome Axis Bank as a Tour Partner of the DP World Professional Golf Tour of India. Partnerships of this stature play a vital role in strengthening the foundation of the Tour, enhancing opportunities for our players, and expanding the sport’s reach across the country.”
Professional Golf Tour of India CEO Amandeep Johl added, “Axis Bank’s strong legacy of excellence, innovation, and nationwide reach aligns perfectly with DP World PGTI’s goal to elevate professional golf in India and provide greater opportunities for our players.”
In a sport where every stroke counts and every partnership drives distance, Axis Bank isn’t just backing golfers, it’s investing in the fairway to future, turning India’s greens into a stage where precision meets passion and every drive has the power to inspire.
