MAM
Havas Media Group appoints Sanchita Roy as head of west India
MUMBAI: Havas Media Group has appointed Sanchita Roy as head of west India. Roy will be responsible for the overall management and growth of the Havas Media Group Mumbai as well as the Western operations.
She will be reporting to Uday Mohan – managing partner, north and west India who has recently taken over the additional responsibility of west besides leading the largest operation of north India.
Havas Media Group has been growing at a phenomenal pace over the years and this year also has been winning new clients inspite of the overall slowdown.
Havas Media Group MD India Mohit Joshi said, “In these challenging times, while the focus has been of persistence and optimism, Havas Media Group has been steadily forging ahead with adding new clients and thus is looking at further strengthening its operations and bolstering the team. I am very happy to welcome Sanchita to Havas – she carries with her a vast experience in integrated media strategy and planning which will add immense value to both the network and our many clients. I am confident that she will lead the team well under Uday’s guidance who has handled both North & West operations in his expanded role and has been a long-standing pillar of the Havas Media Group operations.”
Roy said, “Havas Media Group has been a challenger-brand in the Indian media ecosystem but over the last few years has made huge strides in the overall media environment. Their global expertise, digital prowess and the unique ‘Together’ strategy makes it the most agile and future-ready agency network. I look forward to this opportunity and an exciting journey with Havas.”
Prior to this Roy was with Omnicom Media Group India including PHD and has also had stints with Wavemaker and Mindshare previously. With over 19 years of experience she has worked with brands like J&J, Beiersdorf, Unilever, Volkswagen, Ferrero, Reckitt Benckiser and has been a recipient of coveted industry awards like Media Abbys, CMO Asia, Emvies and Campaign Asia Account Person of the Year.
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.
