iWorld
Niladri Kumar wins Sangeet Natak Academi Puraskar 2023
Mumbai: Indian music icon and sitar maestro Niladri Kumar has been named among winners of Sangeet Natak Academi Puraskar for the year 2023, by the Ministry of Culture and Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar. This is the highest national recognition given to stalwarts in the field of performing arts. Niladri Kumar had earlier won Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar by the Sangeet Natak Academi in 2007.
“I am very grateful to Ministry of Culture and Sangeet Natak Akademi for honouring my journey in music, and I sincerely seek blessings for the path I yet have to travel. My greatest reward is to witness my music touch the hearts of listeners from all over the world, across all these years,” said Niladri Kumar.
Born to sitar maestro, Kartick Kumar, a disciple of Ravi Shankar and Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar winner, Niladri Kumar first performed on Doordarshan at the tender age of seven. He has since been breaking barriers and setting trends in Indian music. Taking forward his father’s legacy, the maverick musician has been well recognised at national as well as global forums.
An artist, who believes in walking with the times alongside staying true to his Indian roots, Niladri Kumar has featured in jazz-guitar legend John McLaughlin’s album Floating Point. He has also toured and played with giants of world music, including tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain and jazz-rock bass virtuoso Jonas Hellborg. He has also composed music for hit Bollywood numbers such as Chup Ke from Bunty Aur Babli, Crazy Kiya Re from Dhoom 2 and Bheeegi Bheegi from Gangster. A great aspiration, Niladri Kumar is truly India’s pride.
Gaming
MTG gaming chief Benninghoff joins NODWIN board as esports firm primes for IPO
The Gurugram-based esports firm is pursuing a public listing, has returned to profitability and is growing revenues by 42 per cent
GURUGRAM: NODWIN Gaming is moving fast. The Gurugram-based gaming and esports company has launched a pre-IPO fundraising round, appointed UBS as lead adviser for both the round and a subsequent public listing, and landed a heavyweight board director, all in one go.
The new board member is Arnd Benninghoff, executive vice president of gaming at Stockholm-listed Modern Times Group (MTG), who has overseen the group’s strategic investments and portfolio growth since 2014. He is no stranger to building things: Benninghoff has founded and built fifteen companies, served as chief digital officer at ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, managing director of SevenVentures, and chief executive of Holtzbrinck eLAB. He began his career as a journalist at Deutsche Presse Agentur and various TV networks, holds a Diplom-Kaufmann in business and administration from the University of Münster, and previously sat on the board of Edgeware AB.
The numbers back the ambition
NODWIN is not pitching a story without substance. The company has returned to EBITDA profitability and posted a 42 per cent year-on-year revenue surge, reaching $58.5m in the first nine months of FY2026. The pre-IPO round will combine a primary issuance to fund global expansion through organic growth and acquisitions, alongside a secondary sale to give existing shareholders some liquidity.
Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of NODWIN Gaming, said Benninghoff understands “the entire lifecycle of the gaming and media ecosystem, from the boots-on-the-ground reality of building startups to the strategic complexity of managing multi-billion dollar global portfolios.”
Benninghoff, for his part, said the company “sits at the intersection of sports, entertainment, and technology, making it one of the most exciting players in the global gaming landscape today.”
A portfolio built for the global south
Founded in 2014 by Rathee and Gautam Virk, NODWIN has quietly assembled one of the more compelling esports portfolios outside the Western hemisphere. Its properties include DreamHack India and Comic Con India, and it recently acquired StarLadder, the Ukraine-based tournament organiser behind premier events in CS:GO and Dota 2. The company also serves as a long-term strategic marketing partner for the Evolution Championship Series (EVO), the world’s most prominent fighting game tournament, helping push it into new geographies.
Its geographic focus spans South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Backers include Nazara Technologies, KRAFTON, Sony Group Corporation, JetSynthesys, and the founders’ investment vehicle Good Game Investments.
What comes next
With UBS running the books, a board freshly reinforced with European media and gaming expertise, and revenue heading in the right direction, NODWIN is laying the groundwork deliberately. The esports industry has burned investors before with big promises and thin margins. NODWIN’s return to profitability, combined with a real portfolio of owned intellectual properties across gaming, music and youth culture, gives it a more credible runway than most. The IPO clock is now ticking.
