MAM
Vijay Sales partners with Wahter for innovative advertising collab
Mumbai: Vijay Sales, a leading tech retail chain with 130 plus outlets and a daily footfall of 70000 plus, has announced a groundbreaking collaboration with Wahter, India’s innovative packaged water brand company with the mission of making drinking water affordable. Under this collaboration, Vijay Sales will not only advertise with Wahter but will extend its 33 stores across the Delhi NCR region to serve as prime advertising spaces for brands collaborating with Wahter.
Under this collaboration, Wahter will prominently feature Vijay Sales’ advertising on their water bottles, which will be available to the consumers at just Rs 2 for a 500 ml bottle at Wahter’s kiosks, carts, and strollers. This move aligns with both companies’ commitment to providing cost-effective and clean drinking water.
In addition, Vijay Sales stores across Delhi NCR will serve as hosts for Wahter, enabling other brands to advertise on Wahter’s packaged water bottles. Consumers visiting Vijay Sales stores will enjoy complimentary access to water bottles with the branding of various enterprises partnering with Wahter. This dual initiative not only enhances the shopping experience but also promotes clean drinking water.
“We are excited to join forces with Wahter in this pioneering initiative that promotes sustainable advertising practices. By opening up our store spaces for innovative advertising, we aim to create a platform that benefits both advertisers and clean drinking water to our customer base.” said Vijay Sales director Nilesh Gupta.
Wahter co-founder Kashiish Nenwani also expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration, stating, “At Wahter, our mission is to provide clean drinking water to every individual at an affordable price point. Partnering with Vijay Sales allows us to expand our reach and fulfill this mission by making Wahter bottles accessible to a wider audience across the NCR.”
Also, Wahter recently collaborated with Scrapbuddy, to recycle PET bottles into eco-friendly fabrics and durable paver blocks. All their water bottles are recyclable and will be collected back in their carts. This initiative marks a pivotal step in Wahter’s mission to reduce environmental impact while creating innovative solutions for a more sustainable future.
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.
