MAM
FCB India announces new creative leadership for Delhi
Mumbai: FCB India, part of the FCB Group agencies in India, today announces new creative leadership for its Delhi office. Udayan Chakravorty and Anusheela Saha, ECDs at FCB India, have been promoted to National Creative Directors. Saha will also take on the additional role of Head of Design at the agency.
With his exceptional creativity and strategic insight, Chakravorty has delivered work for brands such as Google and Horlicks. Anusheela’s passion for design innovation has shaped FCB India’s design capabilities on brands such as Horlicks, Uber, Bata, Royal Stag and many more. In their new capacity as National Creative Directors, Udayan and Anusheela will be responsible for driving creative strategy and execution, working closely with the senior management team. As Head of Design, Anusheela will also oversee the implementation of design initiatives across all client projects, ensuring a cohesive and visually compelling brand experience.
In addition to this announcement, Swati Bhattacharya will step down from her role as Creative Chairperson for FCB India to take some personal time. Since joining the agency in 2016, Swati’s tenure at FCB Group India has been marked by significant contributions that have propelled the agency to new heights. She played a crucial role in shaping the agency’s creative reputation and bringing international recognition through path-breaking campaigns, while her keen insights and bold approach to storytelling have left an indelible mark on the organisation, inspiring creativity and pushing boundaries. Swati will remain at the agency until the end of March.
Commenting on the announcement, FCB Group India and South Asia group CEO Dheeraj Sinha said, “It’s always a pleasure to see our leaders moving up and taking on greater challenges. Udayan and Anusheela are two creative leaders who have amazing talent and energy, and have continually demonstrated a future-thinking approach. With their enthusiasm and passion for creating globally competitive work for our clients, I am convinced they will help write a new future for FCB India and the FCB Group overall.
“We are grateful to Swati, who has played a pivotal role in shaping FCB India’s creative direction and fostering a culture of creativity and excellence. She helped put the agency on the global creative map, and we wish her the very best in her future endeavours,” Dheeraj continued.
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.
