MAM
Vineet Taneja is now the CEO of Micromax
MUMBAI: Micromax, one of the leading smartphone player and consumer electronics brand, has roped in Vineet Taneja as its new chief executive officer. He was earlier the country head for IT & mobile businesses of Samsung India.
This move is a testimony to the vision and commitment of Micromax co-founders to bring in the best talent from the industry at the helm to build a strong organisation and steer Micromax through the next phase of growth by capitalising the immense opportunities in this environment of data devices explosion. Taneja will focus on consolidating Micromax’s strong presence in the market, driving global partnerships and strategic alliances while strengthening the organisational capabilities within Micromax.
Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma said, “Vineet will be an asset in our next phase of growth, his diverse experience will be a great addition to the Micromax leadership in India both from organisational set-up and business growth perspective. Vineet is one of the most respected corporate leaders in the industry and has a great track record of successfully leading diverse brands across sectors.”
“I firmly believe that he will be a strong partner in our vision to be India’s first technology brand to leave an imprint at the global level. We look forward to working closely with Vineet and support him in this new journey,” added Sharma.
With an end-to-end P&L responsibility, Sharma is excited and ready to take upon his new work profile. Apart from leading company’s growth and profitability he will spearhead the transformational agenda of Micromax given the burgeoning opportunity in the devices space globally.
On his appointment Taneja said, “Micromax has been one of the great success stories in India’s mobile eco-system, and has pioneered the democratisation of technology for masses by addressing specific consumer needs with constant innovations. We are witnessing an inflection point in the smart devices globally. Therefore, it is a great opportunity for me to lead Micromax into its next phase of growth by consolidating and further strengthening its position in India, and looking at global markets to complete its transition of becoming a global force to reckon with.”
With over 25 years of experience, Taneja has worked with leading consumer brands like Hindustan Lever, Nokia and Bharti Airtel, prior to Samsung. From performing sales and marketing roles at HLL & Nokia to general management responsibilities at Bharti Airtel and Samsung, Taneja has evolved as a respected leader of the telecom industry.
Over the last decade Taneja has had the distinction of working for the service provider as well as the device companies giving him a comprehensive understanding of the telecom ecosystem including the OTT play. Taneja holds a degree in engineering from IIT-Roorkee and is also an alumnus of IIM-Kolkata.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
