MAM
NDTV, Raj Nayak’s Aidem Ventures to split
MUMBAI: NDTV Ltd. has decided not to renew its ad sales contract with Raj Nayak-promoted Aidem Ventures from 1 April, according to sources familiar with the development.
NDTV had outsourced its ad sales to Aidem Ventures for one year, after Nayak quit as CEO of NDTV Media to float his own company. NDTV had bought back Nayak and his team‘s 26 per cent stake in NDTV Media, a company that was handling the ad sales of the broadcasting company.
The split was in course and an official announcement is expected to be made soon. NDTV had earlier revised the estimates of the fee payable to Aidem in the third quarter of the fiscal, in keeping with the terms of the arrangements and accordingly reversed the provision amounting to Rs 50 million recognised in the earlier quarters.
NDTV has started talking with at least two media outfits including Star India to outsource its ad sales, sources said. The company is also considering managing its own ad sales by forming an internal team.
“All the options are open but the most likely course would be to outsource ad sales. Star seems the favourite choice at this stage but anything can happen. Nothing is signed yet,” a source said.
Nayak could not be reached for his comments.
When contacted, Star India CEO Uday Shankar did not want to comment on the issue.
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
