MAM
Manish Sharma steps down as Panasonic chairman
MUMBAI: After 17 years of electrifying leadership, Manish Sharma is pulling the plug on his Panasonic journey. The long-time industry stalwart has stepped down as chairman of Panasonic Life Solutions India and South Asia, marking the end of an era for the brand’s India operations.
Sharma, who began his Panasonic innings in 2008, rose through the ranks with trademark precision, from managing director to president & CEO of Panasonic India, and eventually chairman in 2021. Over nearly two decades, he steered the company’s expansion across B2C, B2B and B2G segments, driving strategy, innovation and growth in India and beyond.
Under his watch, Panasonic strengthened its foothold across consumer electronics, electrical construction materials, and smart home solutions. Known for his steady hand and future-focused mindset, Sharma helped transform the brand into a more agile, digital-ready enterprise.
Before joining Panasonic, he built his expertise at Samsung, Haier and LG Electronics, where he honed his technical and leadership acumen, from R&D and operations to marketing and product development. His career trajectory reads like a blueprint for India’s consumer electronics evolution over the past three decades.
Sharma’s departure marks the close of a significant chapter for Panasonic’s India operations, where he played a key role in driving growth and innovation.
As he steps away from the boardroom, Sharma leaves behind a legacy defined by innovation, resilience and a relentless pursuit of excellence, qualities that have kept Panasonic’s light shining bright in India’s dynamic market.
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Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
