iWorld
SonyLiv expands Suvonkar Banerjee’s role to lead Hindi originals
Executive will steer Hindi content pipeline alongside Studio Next role
MUMBAI: Streaming platform SonyLiv has expanded the mandate of Suvonkar Banerjee, appointing him to head Hindi originals while he continues in his role as creative director at Studio Next.
The move aims to strengthen SonyLiv’s Hindi originals slate. Banerjee will now oversee the development and creative direction of the platform’s Hindi content pipeline while continuing to guide Studio Next’s broader creative vision.
Banerjee joined Studio Next after a stint at Disney plus Hotstar, where he served as editor. His expanded responsibilities come amid a wider leadership restructuring at Sony Pictures Networks India, as the broadcaster sharpens its focus on digital growth.
Over the past year, SPNI has seen a series of organisational changes following the appointment of Gaurav Banerjee. These shifts have included portfolio realignments, consolidation of roles across business verticals and, in some cases, workforce rationalisation as the company recalibrates its operating structure.
The latest appointment signals a continued push to centralise creative decision-making within SonyLiv’s digital ecosystem, as the platform looks to build a more cohesive and competitive Hindi originals strategy.
iWorld
Akhil Gupta retires as Bharti Enterprises vice chairman after three decades
The man who outsourced Airtel’s network and built Indus Towers leaves behind a telecom industry transformed
NEW DELHI: He was not the most visible face of Bharti. He was, by most accounts, the most consequential one. Akhil Gupta, known within the group simply as AKG, has retired as vice chairman of Bharti Enterprises with effect from March 31st, 2026, closing a chapter that stretched across more than three decades and reshaped Indian telecoms in ways still felt today.
Gupta was there at the beginning, part of the core leadership team that steered Bharti Airtel from a scrappy domestic operator into one of the world’s largest telecom and digital services companies. But it is two decisions in particular that cement his legacy. The first was persuading the industry that a telecom company need not own its own network. His outsourcing partnerships with IBM and Ericsson, considered eccentric at the time, stripped out capital costs and sharpened Airtel’s competitive edge. The model was subsequently copied across the global industry. The second was the creation of Indus Towers, now one of the largest tower companies in the world.
Both initiatives were studied as case material at Harvard Business School, where Gupta himself had studied. A chartered accountant by training and a dealmaker by instinct, he accumulated industry accolades across his career without ever particularly courting the limelight.
Bharti Enterprises, announcing the retirement on LinkedIn, credited Gupta with building the foundation of the group’s success and driving innovation, partnerships and long-term value creation.
The tributes are deserved. Gupta did not just help build Airtel. In many respects, he helped invent the playbook that modern telecoms runs on.
