MAM
FCB Ulka names Kulvinder Ahluwalia as CEO
Mumbai: FCB Group India had recently announced the restructuring of its creative agencies and a new three agency structure – FCB Ulka, FCB Interface, and FCB India. In a follow-up announcement, FCB Ulka, the flagship agency of the group, has named Kulvinder Ahluwalia as CEO. The agency has also appointed Saad Khan as chief strategy officer, and Keigan Pinto as as chief creative officer.
The newly elevated C-Suite leadership team will lead the agency’s next phase of growth in India, it said in a statement on Monday.
In their previous roles, Ahluwalia, Khan, and Pinto were the trio heading the account management, strategic planning, and creative respectively at the agency’s Mumbai office.
“Ulka is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2021. It is only appropriate that on this momentous occasion, we start getting the agency ready for the next 60 years. And what better way to do this than recognizing talent from within,” FCB Ulka vice-chairman Nitin Karkare said. “Kulvinder, Saad, and Keigan have played a key role in building the Mumbai office of FCB Ulka. And I am delighted that they will now lead the agency into the future.”
Kulvinder Ahluwalia, who joined the agency in 1996 as a management trainee, as part of Star One – an entry-level program in the industry, is now the CEO in a demonstration of the agency’s strong commitment to long-term partnerships.
Chief creative officer Keigan Pinto is also a Bollywood musician, apart from being a deeply insightful creative leader, with a pulse on popular culture. He has been listed among the ‘Blazing Admakers’ of the country by Impact Magazine and his work has been awarded at the most prestigious national and international platforms.
With over two decades of diverse experience in advertising and brand consulting, chief Strategy Officer Saad Khan brings to work solid problem-solving skills and an attitude that questions formulaic marketing. An ardent advocate of detail, data, and behavioural economics, his approach to strategy is to remove all the noise to get to the core problem.
“I believe future-readiness starts with talent. Empowering and enabling our best talent to perform at their very best has always been at the heart of my organizational philosophy,” said FCB Group India chairman & CEO, Rohit Ohri. “This elevation of our shining stars makes me truly proud because it embodies the spirit of #talentaboveallelse and is a demonstration of our belief of growing our future leaders from within. This new leadership partnership structure is what will make us future-ready and power our creative transformation journey for the next decade and beyond.”
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.
