MAM
Vir S Advani named chairman & MD of Blue Star
Mumbai: The Board of Blue Star Ltd has unanimously approved the elevation of Vir S Advani as chairman & managing director with effect from 1 April 2024. He will succeed Shailesh Haribhakti, who will be completing two consecutive terms as an Independent Director and will be retiring from the Board on 31 March 2024.
Shailesh Haribhakti joined the Board of Blue Star in 2005 as an independent director and was elevated to the position of Independent chairman in 2019. Under his exemplary leadership, the company grew significantly with all its businesses performing very well.
Vir S Advani holds bachelor’s degrees in Systems Engineering and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. He has also completed a comprehensive executive management program at the Harvard Business School. After a two-year working stint in a private equity firm in New York, Vir joined Blue Star Infotech Ltd in 2000 and later founded Blue Star Design & Engineering Ltd in 2003, designated as its chief executive officer. In 2007, he moved to Blue Star as vice president – corporate affairs. He was promoted to executive vice president in 2008; President of corporate affairs & special projects in 2009; Executive director in 2010. In 2016, Vir was appointed managing director of the company. He was, thereafter, elevated to the position of vice chairman, and re-designated vice chairman & managing director on 1 April 2019.
Vir will succeed Shailesh Haribhakti as chairman and managing director with effect from 1 April 2024.
Blue Star Ltd chairman Shailesh Haribhakti added, “Vir has been with the Blue Star group of companies for nearly 25 years. Having initially managed several independent assignments in associate companies, he joined Blue Star Ltd in 2007 and made valuable contributions in several senior staff and operational positions. India is a fast-growing market for air conditioning and refrigeration products, and Blue Star is well-positioned to consolidate its market leadership and accelerate its growth. Vir is leading from the front and is spearheading the company’s plans to grow faster than the market and improve its profitability through significant investments in R&D, Manufacturing, and expansion of its international footprint. There is no doubt that he is the most deserving and the Blue Star Board is unanimous in selecting him as my successor with effect from 1 April 2024. I am confident that under his able leadership, Blue Star will sustain its good performance and reach new heights as it marches towards its centennial.”
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.
