MAM
Patanjali Dairies head Sunil Bansal succumbs to Covid
MUMBAI: Sunil Bansal, who headed the dairy business of Yoga guru Ramdev’s Patanjali brand, died of Covid-19, the company said on Monday, adding it had no “role in his allopathic treatment.” Bansal was vice president in the Dairy Division of Patanjali Ayurved Ltd and died on 19 May. He was 57.
A specialist in dairy science, Bansal joined Patanjali’s dairy business in January 2018 when the company announced its plans to sell packaged cow milk and other milk-based products including curd, buttermilk and cheese.
“He died of Covid-19 on 19 May in Rajasthan Hospital, Jaipur where his wife is a very senior health official of Government of Rajasthan,” the Haridwar-based consumer packaged goods said in a statement, adding, “It’s very unfortunate to have lost a young energetic colleague who was taskmaster.”
His death comes at a time when Ramdev is courting controversy over his comments dissing allopathic medicines and Covid-19.
“Patanjali didn’t have any role in his allopathic treatment which was largely coordinated by his wife,” it said. “However we were concerned and used to ask for his well-being from his wife.”
On Sunday, Ramdev was forced to withdraw a statement made in a viral video clip in which he is heard saying that “lakhs have died from taking allopathic medicines for Covid-19.” He is also heard questioning some of the medicines being used to treat the disease.
The statement led to vociferous protests from the Indian Medical Association (IMA), which demanded that the Health Ministry take strong action against the yoga guru Ramdev for allegedly misleading the public through his statements. Following this, union health minister Harsh Vardhan asked Ramdev to withdraw the statement which he said was “extremely unfortunate”.
AD Agencies
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.
