MAM
L&K Saatchi & Saatchi gets Atin Wahal to head North & East regions
Mumbai: L&K Saatchi & Saatchi India has strengthened its leadership team and has announced the appointment of Atin Wahal as Executive Vice President – North & East. He will report to Paritosh Srivastava, MD of L&K Saatchi & Saatchi.
Wahal takes over the role from Devraj Basu who has moved on from the agency.
Atin’s arrival is a homecoming of sorts as he was part of Publicis Ambience as Sr. VP until two years ago. He has worked on a host of businesses like Skoda, Zee, Citibank, Times Network, Sony Liv amongst others in his earlier stint.
Wahal joins L&K Saatchi & Saatchi from BBDO India where he was EVP and Head of Mumbai office and worked for brands such as Visa, Idea, Whatsapp, Bumble, HP, Ariel and many more. Apart from these two agencies, Atin has also had a promising stint with Sony Entertainment and other agencies viz
Welcoming Wahal to the agency, Paritosh Srivastava commented: “I’ve known Atin for some time now and happy to have him on the leadership team at L&K Saatchi & Saatchi. Delhi and Kolkata are very important offices for us with an amazing set of clients that we are very proud to partner. It wasn’t an easy search but we think Atin with his vast experience, professionalism, way with people, energy, resourcefulness and familiarity with the Groupe agenda will make him succeed.
Would also like to thank Devraj for doing a fantastic job for a very long time for the agency. We will always be grateful for his contribution and wish him the very best for the future.”
On joining the agency and also the challenges that lay ahead for him, Atin Wahal said: “Publicis Groupe has been at the forefront of offering integrated services and it’s this new age thinking that has pulled me back to the Groupe again.
I am thrilled to be a part of the new and energised L&K Saatchi & Saatchi with Paritosh at the helm. I am certain that we will be writing some success stories soon, riding on ‘Power Of One’ for our clients.
I do believe that in the today’s context and environment it’s not about the challenges that we will face but the opportunities that we will create for our clients and brands.”
Wahal has nearly 18 years of Advertising & Media experience, after completing his post-graduation from Symbiosis he has since explored the magical world of brand storytelling. He has worked on numerous brands across categories and regions including Automobiles, FMCG, Consumer Durables, Broadcast, Telecom, OTT, Pharmaceuticals, BFSI, eCommerce etc.
He has played an influential role and has been associated with some successful campaigns such as Ariel- #SonsSharetheLoad, Skoda- ‘Power Should be beautiful’, KBC- ‘Gyan hi Aapko Apka Haq Dilata Hain’, Zee TV- AAj Likhenge Kal, along with the brand launches of Asian Paints- Royale Play, Indian Idol Juniors, Sony Liv, Skoda Kodiaq and very recently Bumble.
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.
