MAM
JioStar appoints Amit Malhotra as head of international business
Veteran from Warner Media and Disney to lead global expansion from Singapore base.
MUMBAI: JioStar just recruited a global heavyweight to take its entertainment empire international because when you’re aiming to conquer screens worldwide, you don’t send a rookie; you send Amit Malhotra. JioStar has appointed Amit Malhotra as Head of International Business, with the seasoned executive joining this week and basing himself in Singapore. In his new role, Malhotra will shape the company’s long-term global growth strategy, position JioStar as a category-defining entertainment player on the world stage, and drive launches, high-impact partnerships, and innovation across overseas markets.
Reporting jointly to the leadership team, he will operate at the intersection of product, markets, and external ecosystems acting as both strategic architect and hands-on leader to deliver differentiated value to consumers in diverse geographies, including both white-labelling arrangements and full market entries.
Malhotra brings deep expertise from senior roles in the media and entertainment industry. Most recently, he served as danaging director of Warner Media’s direct-to-consumer platforms across India, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Before joining Warner in 2021, he spent 17 years with The Walt Disney Company in various leadership positions, culminating as Regional Lead for Disney+ in Southeast Asia.
Beyond operational experience, Malhotra serves as an advisor to Affinity Equity and Emtek Group, sits on the Board of Governors of Nanyang Polytechnic in Singapore, and chairs the Advisory Committee for the School of Design and Media at the institution.
His appointment signals JioStar’s aggressive push beyond domestic borders at a time when Indian entertainment platforms are eyeing global relevance. With Malhotra’s track record of scaling streaming services across Asia, the company is betting on his blend of strategic vision and execution prowess to turn international markets from ambition into revenue reality, one market launch at a time.
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.
