Digital
Rainbow colours fly high at the Future Generali India Insurance Company
Mumbai: Maintaining its stance as a strong ally to the LGBTQIA+ community, Future Generali India Insurance Company Ltd. (FGII), celebrated PRIDE month in support to the community with a dazzling event and PRIDE parade at its offices across India.
The rainbow day was celebrated with a glittering event symbolising the PRIDE flag amidst enthusiastic participation by the LGBTQIA+ community representatives. Partaking in the grand celebrations were LGBTQIA+ icon Sushant Divgikar, a.k.a Rani KoHEnur, who also performed at the event and led the PRIDE Parade along with senior officials and FGII employees. Other dignitaries who graced the occasion includes Dr Trintera Halder, 26-year-old trans-woman, who earned the position of Karnataka’s first trans-woman doctor along with Yogi and Kabeer, digital creators and the face of FGII’s ‘Redefining Family’ campaign.
Based on the theme of ‘Assuring, Ensuring and Insuring Inclusion’, FGII’s Pride Day celebrations included awareness sessions, panel discussions, and interactive workshops led by experts, LGBTQIA+ allies, and community leaders. As part of the event, the company also arranged a fireside chat and a captivating theater performance on inclusion and allyship at workplace within its premises. Additionally, there were engaging pop-up stalls by artists from the LGBTQIA+ community to enhance the celebratory atmosphere. An integral part of the festivities was a speech on workplace inclusion delivered by the corporate speaker Parmesh Shahani, also an award-winning author for his books on LGBTQAI+, an inclusion advocate and a DEI consultant.
Speaking on the occasion, Future Generali India Insurance Company Ltd. managing director Anup Rau said, “We take immense pride in our unwavering support as allies of the LGBTQIA+ community, and we remain dedicated to upholding equality in all aspects of our work. At FGII, fostering inclusion across all sections of society and the communities we serve is a fundamental aspect of our ‘Life-time partner’ approach. We firmly believe in embodying the principles of DEI, and we consistently align our efforts with this vision, both within the workplace and in the products we launch. Our primary focus is to nurture a culture that values and celebrates differences, encouraging acceptance and providing an environment where individuals can thrive without any apprehension. Our dedication to this cause remains resolute, and we are determined to contribute to a future where inclusion is not the exception but rather the standard.”
FGII is one of the few organisations that has embraced DEI not only as an employer but as an insurer. In addition to the celebratory activities, the company implements focused education, sensitization, and training programs throughout the year. Every aspect of the company’s hiring processes, including application forms, job descriptions, and career website, reflects its commitment to being an equal opportunity employer.
Moreover, as an insurer, FGII proactively invests in comprehending the unique needs of individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community. Recognizing the importance of inclusivity, the company has expanded the definition of “family” across all its retail health products to encompass LGBTQIA+ community members, including live-in partners. This progressive approach reflects FGII’s dedication to serving the diverse needs of its customers and creating an inclusive environment.
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.
