MAM
LEAD announces Anupam Gurani & Manoj Naik elevation at a leadership role
Mumbai: Homegrown school edtech unicorn, LEAD, has elevated Anupam Gurani to chief business & marketing officer and Manoj Naik to chief finance & operations officer. In their new positions, Gurani and Naik will further strengthen LEAD’s proposition as an integrated school edtech solutions provider with expertise in operations, classroom management, curriculum, and pedagogy.
In addition to his marketing responsibilities, Gurani will now also drive customer success and revenue generation at LEAD, with a focus on continually delivering great results for all school stakeholders, and Naik will also lead supply chain and procurement excellence, in addition to leading financial operations at edtech.
LEAD co-founder and CEO Sumeet Mehta said, “Gurani and Naik are leading our mission of bringing excellent education to every child. With their deep expertise and experience, I am sure they’ll continue to contribute to the lead in their elevated roles.”
“The opportunity to build on our current momentum for growth and student confidence-building through school edtech is tremendous, and I am excited to take on this new role. I look forward to working with our teams to drive further success for LEAD as we continue to make excellent learning accessible and affordable for students across India,” said Anupam Gurani. An accomplished sales, marketing, and strategy professional with over 18 years of experience, Gurani has previously led teams in leading multinational organisations across India and Southeast Asia, including Disney+, Hotstar, Vodafone, Google, and Reckitt.
“I am thrilled to be a part of LEAD at this important juncture in its journey of impact and growth. As we continue to shape the future of learning outcomes in India’s schools, I am excited about the opportunity to strengthen operational excellence with an incredible, values-driven team,” added Manoj Naik. With over 30 years of experience, Naik has led finance, commercial and technology operations in leading companies such as GE Capital, ManipalCigna Health Insurance and Fullerton Securities, among others across India and the UAE.
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.
