MAM
Celebrate the festival of ‘Giving’ by donating for a special cause on ‘#DaanUtsav’, October 2nd to 8th
MUMBAI: Launched in 2009, #DaanUtsav, the festival of philanthropy, is celebrated every year from October 2 to October 8, marking Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary (Gandhi Jayanti). It is a people’s movement for donating and celebrating the act of kindness and giving for social good. Campaigns are run by numerous partners where people from all walks of life and all strata of society can come forward and give in any way they wish to – donate through a campaign or to an NGO, shop for a cause or give in kind, or simply, give time.
This #DaanUtsav, e-commerce platforms including Flipkart, Ola, Big Basket, CRED, Meesho, and Snapdeal are collaborating with GiveIndia, India’s most trusted giving platform, to reach and engage with over 200 million people whose acts of giving will provide for the underprivileged and those in need, and also create a national community of givers. These corporates aptly demonstrate collaboration and assistance in working towards the cause of ‘giving.’ They are using simple nudges, through messaging and communicating, to engage millions by making ‘giving’ a natural extension of their shopping and interaction occurrences on their respective platforms.
Speaking about the partnership, Atul Satija, CEO, GiveIndia said, “GiveIndia is a pioneer in bridging the gap between donors and trusted nonprofits. #DaanUtsav or the ‘Joy of Giving’ week is a great platform for us to boost our mission of alleviating poverty by enabling the world to give. Through this alliance, we are accelerating towards our aim to simplify giving at scale. Not only are we supporting our partners in their giving journey by connecting them with trusted non-profits but we are also reaching out to their millions of users and contributing towards the building of an everyday philanthropy ecosystem.”
This #DaanUtsav, Flipkart will be running a one-of-a-kind giving initiative, to encourage people to perform acts of kindness by contributing to a cause they believe in. These range from sustainability, women empowerment, equality for the differently-abled, menstrual hygiene, animal welfare, and children empowerment. The partnership with GiveIndia will enable over 160 million Flipkart consumers and lakhs of sellers, and employees, to contribute to any of these six social causes.
BigBasket will run a week-long consumer donations campaign to raise rations for three non-profits in Bangalore. They will also be supporting the #DaanUtsav volunteers to run the “Fists of Joy” campaign that encourages school children to donate a fist of rice to the needy. Bigbasket will match the total amount of rice raised and then donate to support non-profits in need.
CRED will run fundraising campaigns through its successful #credmissions platform across the causes of children’s education, midday meals, tree plantation and medical support for the poor.
Meesho is launching its donation category which covers several causes such as child health, education and food, women's empowerment, nature conservation and elderly care in addition to fundraising campaigns for disaster relief support.
Snapdeal will be raising funds for education supplies for GiveIndia’s partner non-profits. MakeMyTrip is promoting payroll giving supporting environment conservation with GiveIndia’s partner nonprofit Chintan.
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.
