Brands
IAMAI appoints Ishan Chatterjee as chairman of Digital Entertainment Committee
Ishan Chatterjee swaps the playing field for the policy table, taking the chair of the digital entertainment committee from Kiran Mani
NEW DELHI: India’s digital entertainment lobby has a new ringmaster, and he arrives straight from the trenches of live sport. The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has handed Ishan Chatterjee, chief executive officer of sports at Jiostar, the chairmanship of its digital entertainment committee, a job that puts him squarely at the table where streaming, screens and the future of Indian storytelling get hashed out.
Chatterjee takes the reins from Kiran Mani, whose tenure earned a warm send-off from the association. No sentimentality lingers for long in this business, though: the new chair inherits an industry in the middle of a scramble, as platforms, broadcasters and creators jostle for advantage in a market reshaped almost weekly by artificial intelligence and shifting viewer habits.
Chatterjee did not undersell the moment. “India’s digital entertainment ecosystem has never been more dynamic, or more full of opportunity,” he said, in a statement that read more like a rallying cry than a press quote. The convergence of technology, creativity and evolving consumer behaviour, he argued, is opening up fresh ground for storytelling, engagement and monetisation, provided platforms, creators, brands and policymakers can pull in the same direction. Consumers, he added, remain the ones steering the ship, however much the industry likes to think otherwise. He said he is looking forward to helping unlock the next phase of growth and cementing India’s place as a leader in digital entertainment.
He will not be working the room alone. Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts, stays on as co-chair, giving the committee a pairing that spans both the big screen and the short scroll.
The committee itself is no talking shop. It is IAMAI’s forum of choice for thrashing out policy, regulatory and business questions that bear on India’s sprawling digital entertainment ecosystem, with a brief that runs from encouraging innovation to wrestling with the headaches thrown up by streaming and digital media as they grow.
With AI rewriting the rules of content and competition almost in real time, the timing of Chatterjee’s appointment is no accident. India’s entertainment industry now has a new referee, and the whistle has already been blown.
About the Internet and Mobile Association of India
The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) is a not-for-profit industry body with more than 800 members, spanning Indian and multinational corporations as well as start-ups. It has been instrumental in shaping India’s digital economy, championing free and fair competition and progressive, enabling laws for businesses and consumers alike. Its work spans public policy and advocacy, business-to-business conferences, research, the promotion of start-ups, and efforts to build consumer trust and safety.
