MAM
Mudra’s Jude Fernandes promoted to executive director; Aniruddha Banerjee comes on board
MUMBAI: The Mudra Group has announced a slew of senior management changes. The current president at Mudra Mumbai office Jude Fernandes has been promoted to executive director. Filling his shoes in Mumbai is Aniruddha Banerjee (Ani).
In his capacity, Fernandes will have additional responsibilities that will include helping define the group’s strategic direction, strengthening Mudra’s offering to clients and improving the product, states an official release.
Commenting on Fernandes new position, Mudra Group CEO and managing director Madhukar Kamath said, “Jude has been a source of great strength for the Mudra Group. He is our rock and a true leader. His promotion is recognition of his fabulous work over the years, particularly as the head of Mudra Mumbai. It is also a statement of our aggressive growth plans, we need talent of his quality to help us define the Group’s strategic direction, strengthen our offering to clients and improving our product.”
Fernandes has spent over two decades in advertising – 14 of which he has spent at Mudra handling businesses such as the Godrej Group, LIC, the Pantaloon Group, SBI, Philips, Air India, HPCL, MTDC, Johnson & Johnson and Reliance ADAG among others.
Fernandes said, “I’ve had a long and rewarding association with Mudra and have enjoyed every minute of it. The Mudra Group is looking at some very aggressive growth over the next few years, and I love the idea of being part of that. My new role promises to be a lot of fun.”
Aniruddha Banerjee has also come on board, taking Fernandes’ old position. On the addition of Banerjee to the management team Kamath said, “As far as Ani is concerned, he comes to us with an impeccable track record. I think he is an excellent advertising mind, a great account man and a terrific team leader. He is just the right guy to continue the good work Jude has done. I have great regard for Ani’s proven abilities in organization building, and I’m sure he’ll revel in the challenge of taking Mudra Mumbai to the top”
Banerjee brings with him experience and has stints at Everest, Leo Burnett, Bates Worldwide (then Clarion) and Contract.
Banerjee said, “I am tremendously excited about the challenge of leading Mudra Mumbai. The agency already has an enviable roster of clients and from what I hear, a couple of large ones in the pipeline and more importantly great relationships with each one of them. I’ve been handed a healthy operation and good talent. I couldn’t ask for more!”
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.
